Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Butter thin slices of stale bread and remove the crusts.
Layer the bread in a pudding dish, alternating with layers of seeded raisins.
Make the custard
In a bowl, mix the eggs, brown sugar, salt, and milk until well combined.
Pour the egg mixture over the layered bread and raisins.
Bake and serve
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for one hour.
Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over each layer of bread before serving.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Stale bread
- Forms the structure that soaks up the custard and holds the pudding together.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, binding the milk and bread into a sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that soaks into the bread and forms the custard with the eggs.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a molasses flavour that deepens the custard.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Pour the egg mixture over the layered bread and raisins. The bread needs time to absorb the custard so it softens evenly. Eggs left to set in a dry pocket become curdled or leave uncustardy patches, so the bread should be well soaked before baking.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, sugar, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, sugar, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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