Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,781 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
In a basin, combine the bread, sweet almonds, bitter almonds, raisins, and minced citron.
Pour the Madeira wine over the mixture and let it soak.
Make the custard
In a separate bowl, mix the cream, yolks of eggs, burnt sugar, and loaf sugar until well combined.
Pour the cream mixture over the soaked bread and fruit, and stir gently to combine.
Bake
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until 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.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Almond + raisintop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + sugartop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,437 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22,584 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,480 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Almond + creamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,129 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread
- Forms the body of the pudding and soaks up the wine and cream.
- Yolks of eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, producing a soft, custardy texture.
- Madeira wine
- Soaks into the bread and adds aromatic depth to the pudding.
- Raisins
- Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.
- Burnt sugar
- Adds caramel-like flavour and colour to the custard.
The step that matters
Baking until set. Egg yolks set as they heat, so the pudding should be baked only until firm. Overbaking can make the custard grainy and dry, while underbaking leaves it runny in the centre.
Flavor stand-ins for the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, madeira wine, raisin, cream, egg, sugar):
- Almondthe original
- Chestnutabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, madeira wine, raisin, cream, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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