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 ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Soak the bread
Grate the bread crumbs into a small pudding dish.
Pour the boiling milk over the crumbs and cover tightly; set aside to cool.
Make the custard
Beat the egg and sugar together until light, then stir into the cooled bread and milk mixture.
Add nutmeg for flavor and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.
Serve
Serve hot with wine sauce or cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Form the body of the pudding by absorbing the hot milk and holding its structure.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and softens the crumbs into a tender, custard-like texture.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and sets during baking, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the beaten egg stay light before it is stirred in.
The step that matters
Let the milk cool before adding the egg. Egg proteins set at high heat, so stirring the beaten egg into very hot milk can scramble it and leave lumps. Cooling the bread and milk first keeps the custard smooth and evenly set during baking.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, egg, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, sugar. 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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