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Steamed Bread

A steamed bread dish made with stale bread, butter, bread crumbs, cheese, milk, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Steamed Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Slice the stale bread and lay the slices on a plate.

  2. Set the plate in a steamer, tilted for steam circulation.

  3. Place the steamer over boiling water and cover tightly.

Make the mixture

  1. Cut the butter and cheese into small pieces and place in a large bowl with the bread.

  2. Pour scalding milk over the mixture.

  3. Add beaten egg yolks and a little salt, mix well, then cover the mixture.

  4. Set the bowl on the back of the stove, stirring occasionally until dissolved.

  5. Add beaten egg whites and mix gently.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer to a buttered pie plate and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

  2. Serve immediately with butter like toast.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Stale bread
Provides the body of the dish, soaking up the warm milk and holding its shape.
Eggs
Set the mixture as they cook, giving structure, and the whites add lift.
Milk
Supplies moisture that softens the bread and turns the mixture into a custard-like base.
Cheese
Adds fat and savory flavor, and melts into the mixture as it heats.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture, and helps the dish brown lightly.

The step that matters

Add beaten egg whites and mix gently.. Egg whites trap air that expands in the oven and gives the dish lift. Vigorous mixing deflates them, leaving a dense, heavy result.

“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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