Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Brown Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
Add the brown bread crumbs, sugar, boiling milk, cream, and beaten egg whites.
Flavor with vanilla or lemon.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Steam for 1.5 hours.
Serve with German or custard sauce.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they 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
- Brown bread crumbs
- Form the body of the pudding and soak up the liquid as it sets.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set into a tender, sliceable texture.
- Egg whites
- Add airiness and lift, giving the pudding a lighter structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the flavor of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Steam for 1.5 hours. Steaming heats the custard gently and evenly. Too much heat makes eggs curdle and turn grainy, while too little leaves the center wet and unset.
“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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