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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A baked pudding made with bread crumbs, figs, brown sugar, suet, flour, apples, milk, eggs, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine bread crumbs, figs, brown sugar, suet, flour, apples, and nutmeg in a large bowl.

  2. Add enough milk to create a batter consistency.

  3. Fold in the beaten eggs until well mixed.

Cook

  1. Pour the mixture into a pudding mold.

  2. Boil for 4 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Fig + appletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together238 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help set the pudding as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and body that hold the pudding together.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich.
Figs
Supply sweetness and a soft, chewy texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavor.
Flour
Adds structure that helps the batter hold its shape.

The step that matters

Boil for 4 hours. The pudding needs a long, steady simmer so the eggs and starches set through the center. Too little time leaves it wet and loose, and too hard a boil can break the mold seal.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, fig, sugar, flour, milk, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Datesfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, fig, sugar, flour, milk, 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.

More fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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