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 ↓
Queen of Puddings
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.
Prepare the base
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the crumbs in a buttered pie dish.
In a saucepan, boil the milk, sugar, and butter together, then pour over the crumbs and let soak. Add the lemon essence.
Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs, beat the yolks, and pour them over the crumbs to cover completely.
Bake in the oven until the yolks are set.
Top and finish
Remove from the oven and spread a layer of jam on top.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, then stir in 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Pile the egg whites roughly over the jam and return to the oven for 20 minutes, ensuring it does not burn.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 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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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Bread or cake crumbs
- Form the bulk of the base, soaking up the warm milk mixture to make a soft custard layer.
- Eggs
- Yolks set the custard, while whipped whites form a light, airy meringue topping.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that soaks into the crumbs and sets with the egg yolks into a custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue whites become stable and glossy.
- Jam
- Adds a fruity, sweet layer between the custard and the meringue.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites must be fully whipped and free of any yolk, or they will not hold their volume. Under-whipped or greasy whites collapse and weep in the oven, leaving a flat, watery topping.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Peachabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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