Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,466 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
The Queen of Puddings
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).
Make the base
Combine bread crumbs and milk in a bowl, then add the egg yolks.
Bake the mixture for a short time until it becomes stiff.
Top and brown
Spread preserves over the baked mixture.
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Spread the frothy egg whites over the preserves.
Sprinkle white sugar on top.
Return to the oven to brown for a few minutes.
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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 77,875 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Form the body of the pudding, soaking up milk to create a soft base.
- Milk
- Moistens the bread crumbs and keeps the custard tender as it bakes.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a stiff, custard-like base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a foam, they form a light topping that browns in the oven.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the topping and helps it caramelize and brown.
The step that matters
Returning to the oven to brown. Egg white meringue topping can over-brown or burn quickly because sugar darkens fast at high heat. Watch it closely over the few minutes allowed.
“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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