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Dessert

An English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with stale bread, eggs, suet, molasses, raisins, currants, citron, spices, and alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

An English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine grated bread, eggs, sugar, suet, molasses, raisins, currants, citron, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, brandy, and wine in a large bowl and mix well until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture into a cloth and tie securely.

Boil and serve

  1. Boil in a large pot of water for 6 hours.

  2. Serve with a sweet sauce.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

Sugar and cinnamon 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
Soaks up liquid and gives the pudding a body that holds together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set as it cooks, giving the pudding structure.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, depth of flavour and a dark colour.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture through the pudding.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour while contributing a little moisture.

The step that matters

Securing the cloth. If the cloth is not tied securely, water can seep into the pudding during the long boil, making it soggy and diluting the flavour. The pudding also needs room to expand slightly as it cooks, so the tie should be firm but not packed tight.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, sugar, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, sugar, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon. 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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