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 ↓
A Good Baked Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the base
Pour boiling milk over the bread crumbs and butter in a bowl.
Cover and let stand until soaked.
Stir in sugar, eggs, candied orange rind, and nutmeg until well combined.
Once the mixture is nearly cold, pour it into a baking dish.
Ice and bake
Beat the egg whites to a firm froth and mix with sifted sugar.
Spread over the pudding.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,746 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and form the soft, custardy body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the pudding and give it structure.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and, with the eggs, forms the custard that holds the pudding together.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the icing beaten from egg whites stay stable.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that softens the crumbs and adds flavor.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before pouring it into the dish. If the custard base is still hot when the eggs are added or it is poured, the eggs can scramble, which leaves a grainy texture instead of a smooth set custard.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, milk, sugar, egg, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, milk, sugar, egg, 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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