Name: Bread Pudding with Praline Sauce
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients: 1/4 cup butter, melted; 2 cups half-and-half; 2 cups milk; 1 (1 pound) loaf soft French bread, torn into small pieces; 3 eggs, lightly beaten; 3 cups white sugar; 4 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1/4 cup raisins, or more to taste (optional); 1/2 pound unsalted butter; 1 cup heavy cream; 1 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Why it works: Cinnamon and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the raisin

The recipe marks raisin as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, bread, egg, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon):

Figfits better
Peachfits better
Coconutfits about as well
Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, bread, egg, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pecans	1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)	196
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

Bread Pudding with Praline Sauce