Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mold
Butter a mold.
Layer thin-cut bread and butter in the bottom, then add a layer of currants and stoned raisins.
Half-fill the mold with the bread mixture.
Pour in ½ cup of brandy, rum, or currant wine.
Make the custard
In an hour, mix 1 quart of milk with 6 beaten eggs, grated nutmeg, and brown sugar.
Pour the milk mixture over the bread.
Cook and serve
Boil for 1.5 hours.
Serve with melted butter, currant wine, and sugar.
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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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard and bind the milk and bread into a firm, sliceable pudding.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard that soaks into the bread and gives the pudding its moisture.
- Bread
- Absorbs the custard and provides the body of the pudding.
- Currants
- Add tart, concentrated fruit flavor and chewy pockets throughout the pudding.
- Stoned raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy texture among the bread layers.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a molasses note to the custard.
The step that matters
Pour the milk mixture over the bread. The bread must have time to soak up the custard evenly before cooking. Dry patches will not set properly and can leave the pudding uneven in texture.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, raisin, brandy, milk, egg, nutmeg):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits about as well
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, raisin, brandy, milk, egg, nutmeg. 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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