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Dessert

Rich Bread and Butter Pudding

A custard-like pudding made by layering buttered bread with currants and candied peel, then soaking in a milk, almond, and brandy mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Rich Bread and Butter Pudding

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 ↓

Rich Bread and Butter Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

  1. Simmer the milk with lemon rind and bruised almonds (or cinnamon) for 10 to 20 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Mix the strained milk with cream, sugar, and beaten eggs while still hot.

  4. Add a few grains of salt.

  5. Stir in the brandy.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the bread and butter with currants and candied peel in a thickly buttered dish.

  2. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the layers gradually, allowing the bread to absorb it before adding more.

  3. Let the pudding soak for 2 hours.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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.

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure and body.
Bread and butter
Forms the body of the pudding and soaks up the custard, becoming tender while holding its shape.
Milk
Makes up the liquid base of the custard, carrying the flavour and helping it set.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the custard a smoother, softer texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
Currants
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy pockets of fruit throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Pour the custard gradually and let the bread soak. Adding the egg mixture slowly lets the bread absorb it evenly. Pouring it all at once leaves dry bread on top and pooled liquid below, so the pudding bakes unevenly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, almond, cream, sugar, egg, brandy, bread):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, almond, cream, sugar, egg, brandy, bread. 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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