Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓
Bread 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Butter a porcelain baking dish.
Layer and bake
Layer the bottom with soaked bread.
Add a layer of sliced apples and then a layer of raisins.
Repeat layers until all ingredients are used.
In a bowl, mix milk, beaten eggs, sugar, and nutmeg.
Pour the custard over the layered ingredients.
Bake until the custard is firmly 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.
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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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Butter + breadtop 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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard so it holds its shape rather than staying liquid.
- Bread
- Forms the base layers that soak up the custard and give the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard that moistens the bread and carries the eggs.
- Apples
- Add moisture and tartness that cut through the sweet custard.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture between the layers.
The step that matters
Bake until the custard is firmly set. Eggs thicken as their proteins coagulate when heated. Underbaking leaves a runny center, while steady moderate heat keeps the custard smooth rather than curdled or rubbery.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, milk, raisin, egg, sugar, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, milk, raisin, egg, sugar, nutmeg. 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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