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 ↓
Baked Bread Pudding.— No. 2
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.
Infuse the milk
Break the cinnamon into the milk and boil for 10 minutes.
Strain the milk and let it cool.
Make the batter
Stir in the egg yolks alternately with the sugar and bread crumbs.
Add the lemon rind and, if desired, a little rose water.
Finally, fold in the well-beaten egg whites.
Bake and serve
Bake in a buttered dish at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Grate a little nutmeg over the top when done and serve with hot or cold 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.
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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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cinnamon + milktop 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
- Eggs
- Yolks set the custard, while whipped whites lighten the mixture and help it rise.
- Stale bread crumbs
- Provide the bulk that soaks up the milk and gives the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs set into a custard as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the eggs and milk.
- Lemon rind
- Adds bright citrus aroma without adding much liquid.
- Cinnamon
- Infused into the milk to give a warm, spiced aroma throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that lifts the pudding; stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, so fold gently until just combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cinnamon, milk, butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cinnamon, milk, butter, sugar, egg. 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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