Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dish
Butter a pie dish that holds 1½ pints. If turning out the pudding, sprinkle a little Demerara sugar over the butter.
Assemble
Layer the bread and butter in the dish, sprinkling with sugar and some of the cleaned and dried fruit and chopped candied peel between layers.
Finish with a layer of bread and butter sprinkled with the remaining sugar.
Make the custard and bake
Beat the eggs in a bowl, add the milk and vanilla essence, then pour this mixture over the pudding.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes, or until the custard is 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.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Eggs
- Set the milk custard as they cook, giving the pudding a soft, sliceable body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard base that soaks into the bread and sets during baking.
- Bread and butter
- Forms the layered structure; the bread soaks up custard while the butter adds richness.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown lightly in the oven.
- Currants and sultanas
- Add pockets of sweetness and chew throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Bake until the custard is set. Egg proteins set as the custard heats, so pulling the pudding too early leaves a runny centre, while overbaking can make the custard grainy and dry.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla. 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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