Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Plain Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place bread crumbs in a basin.
Pour boiling milk over the crumbs and cover with a plate for 20 minutes.
Beat the mixture until smooth, then add sugar and nutmeg.
In a separate plate, beat the eggs and add to the pudding mixture.
Stir everything together and pour into a well-buttered and floured mold.
Cook
Tie a cloth tightly over the mold and boil for 1 hour.
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.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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 soaking up the milk and eggs.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, binding the pudding into a firm, sliceable mass.
- Milk
- Softens the crumbs and provides the moisture that makes the custard tender.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to the pudding's flavor and browning.
The step that matters
Tie a cloth tightly over the mold. A loose cover lets water seep into the pudding during boiling, making it soggy and dense. A snug cloth keeps water out while allowing the pudding to steam and set evenly.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Parsleyfits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, egg, butter. 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.
More bread pudding recipes
You might also like
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Orange Potato Bread80 recipes
Bread Crumb Cakes30 recipes
Gingerbread25 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.