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 ↓
Plain Bread Pudding, Baked
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Cut off the crust from the stale bread and break it into pieces.
Pour boiling milk over the bread and add butter.
Cover the dish tightly and let it cool.
Mash the mixture until smooth, then add cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and dissolved baking soda.
Beat the eggs until light and add them last.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pudding dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Serve warm with hard 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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar 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 body of the pudding, soaking up the milk and custard.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the pudding into a sliceable, custard-like texture.
- Milk
- Softens the bread and, with the eggs, forms the custard that sets in the oven.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown lightly during baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and keeps the pudding from sticking to the dish.
The step that matters
Let the bread-milk mixture cool before adding the eggs. Eggs added to very hot liquid can scramble instead of blending smoothly, leaving a grainy texture. Cooling the mixture first lets the eggs thicken it evenly when baked.
“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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