Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓
Almond 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).
Make the pudding
Use sherry to pound the almonds and mix with melted butter.
Stir in sugar, cream, milk, and eggs until well combined.
Add cake or bread crumbs and mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a well‑buttered pie dish and bake until 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.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pounded almonds
- Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat for a tender, smooth texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, making the custard silkier.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the mixture bakes into a soft custard.
- Cake or bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help give the pudding body.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs set when heated to a firm but tender texture. Overbaking causes them to tighten and weep, so the pudding should be removed once just set in the centre.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, sugar, cream, milk, egg, butter, bread):
- Almondthe original
- Cocoafits about as well
- Pecansfits less well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, sugar, cream, milk, egg, butter, 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.
More almond pudding recipes
You might also like
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Orange Potato Bread80 recipes
Brown Bread Pudding47 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.