Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the sliced French rolls in the cream or milk.
Add the beaten egg yolks, sugar, orange flower water, pounded macaroons, and white wine.
Tie the mixture in a buttered cloth and place it in a basin.
Cook and serve
Boil in water for 30 minutes.
Serve with wine sauce.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Orange + white winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together730 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Cream + white winetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,760 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
-
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- French rolls
- Soak up the cream or milk and give the pudding its bready structure.
- Cream or milk
- Provides moisture and richness for the custard-soaked crumb.
- Egg yolks
- Set with gentle heat to bind the pudding into a custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the pudding.
- Macaroons
- Add sweetness and a crumbly body to the mixture.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that lighten the richness.
The step that matters
Boil in water for 30 minutes. The egg yolks set into a custard only through steady heat held long enough. Too short a boil leaves the centre wet and loose, while overly vigorous boiling can make the texture dense and rubbery.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar, white wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar, white wine. 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
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 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.