Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Viennoise Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the bread pieces in sherry and milk (or milk and cream) for a while.
Beat the soaked bread with a fork until well mixed.
Bake and serve
Add the sultana raisins, moist sugar, chopped candied peel, and grated lemon rind, and mix well.
Pour into a baking dish.
Bake until set and golden, then serve.
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 + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
-
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Soaks up the milk to form the soft, custardy body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that softens the bread and sets into a custard when baked.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
- Sultana raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Soaking the bread. The bread needs enough time to absorb the liquid fully; dry patches stay firm and do not blend into the custard, leaving an uneven texture.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sherry, milk, raisin, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sherry, milk, raisin, sugar. 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
Cornbread345 recipes
Nut Bread109 recipes
Wheat Bread65 recipes
Whole Wheat Bread55 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.