Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Soak the bread crumbs in the boiled milk.
Strain the mixture through a colander.
Add sugar, baking soda, orange juice, and grated orange rind to the mixture.
Beat the eggs separately and fold them into the mixture.
Bake
Pour into a baking dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) until set.
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.
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Soak up the milk to form the body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its firm, custard-like structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to browning at the surface.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the orange juice's acidity to help the pudding rise and lighten.
- Sweet orange juice
- Provides the main orange flavour and moisture.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten eggs. Beaten eggs hold air that helps the pudding rise and lighten. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates it and can leave a denser pudding.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
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