Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cut the bread into thin slices and butter one side of each slice.
Assemble
Layer the bread in a pudding pan, buttered side up, and add a layer of currants.
Repeat the layers until the dish is full.
Custard and bake
In a bowl, beat the eggs with cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.
Add enough milk to fill the dish and pour it over the bread.
Let it sit for a while to soak.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven or boil as directed for bread puddings.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 custard as they cook, giving the pudding a tender, sliceable body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard that soaks the bread and keeps the pudding moist.
- Bread
- Forms the structure that soaks up the custard and holds the layers together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the buttered bread surface brown in the oven.
- Currants
- Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture between the bread layers.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard and supports browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Let it sit to soak. Resting lets the bread absorb the egg and milk custard. Without soaking, the bread stays dry in patches and the custard may not set evenly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, milk. 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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