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 ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pudding
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs, milk, sugar, egg yolks, melted butter, and flavoring.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 40 minutes.
Make the meringue and finish
While baking, prepare meringue by beating the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add 4 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the pudding once baked and return to the oven to brown.
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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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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Form the bulk of the pudding and soak up the milk to create its body.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that sets with the egg yolks into a soft custard.
- Egg yolks
- Act as the main setting agent, giving the pudding a rich, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the beaten egg whites in the meringue.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Beating the meringue until stiff. Egg whites must be beaten to stiff peaks with sugar added gradually so they hold air and form a stable foam that browns well without weeping or collapsing in the oven.
“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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