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 ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding base
Boil the milk.
Pour the boiled milk over the bread crumbs.
Add half the sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice, and egg yolks.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 30 minutes.
Top and finish
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Add the remaining sugar to the whipped egg whites.
Spread the whipped egg whites over the pudding.
Return the pudding to the oven to set and lightly brown.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the hot milk to form the soft body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that gives the pudding its moist, tender texture.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken and set the custard, while whipped whites form the light topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma that balance the sweetness.
The step that matters
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Any trace of yolk or fat stops the whites from whipping fully, and under-whipped whites will deflate and make the topping weep or sink. Adding the sugar after they begin to foam helps them hold their shape.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, egg. 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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