Name: Steamed Bread Pudding
Ingredients: 2 cups bread crumbs; ½ cup water; 1 cup molasses; 4 tablespoons flour; 1 egg; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; Fruit and spice to taste

Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Steamed Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Soak the bread crumbs in water until softened.
In a bowl, combine the soaked bread crumbs, molasses, flour, egg, baking soda, cream of tartar, and any desired fruit and spices.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Steam and serve

Steam for 3 hours.
Serve with wine sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,408 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Soaked in water, they add bulk and a soft, moist crumb to the pudding.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color and a rich, deep flavor.
Flour: Provides structure so the pudding holds its shape after steaming.
Egg: Binds the mixture and adds structure as it sets.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and molasses to lighten the batter.
Cream of tartar: Acidic partner to baking soda, helping the pudding rise and react with molasses.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.