Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,232 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Queen of Puddings
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.
Make the custard
Scald the milk and pour it over the bread crumbs.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and rind, and butter.
Bake in a dish at 350°F (175°C) until well set but not watery.
Top and brown
Let cool, then spread a layer of cherry preserves on top.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth with the powdered sugar and spread over the pudding.
Brown the top under the broiler.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Lemon + cherrytop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,301 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Milk + cherrytop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together851 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the hot milk to form the soft body of the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Set the custard when baked, giving it a tender, sliceable structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to form a stiff meringue topping that browns on top.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the bread absorbs and the eggs set into custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue become glossy and stable.
- Cherry preserves
- Adds a fruity, acidic sweetness that cuts through the rich custard.
The step that matters
Bake until well set but not watery. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overbaking can curdle them and cause weeping, while underbaking leaves the custard runny and unable to hold the meringue.
Flavor stand-ins for the cherry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, sugar, lemon, egg, butter):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Peachbetter flavor fit
- Cherrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, sugar, lemon, egg, butter. 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.
You might also like
Cherry Bread Pudding6 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.