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Steamed Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with graham bread crumbs, figs, cream, milk, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Steamed Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Moisten the graham bread crumbs with the thin sweet cream.

  2. Mix in the chopped figs and sugar.

  3. Add the sweet milk and stir until combined.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a pudding dish.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam over boiling water for about 2.5 hours.

  2. Serve immediately with a little cream for dressing.

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

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

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + figtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Graham bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the pudding and absorb the cream and milk to set a soft body.
Thin sweet cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the crumbs before the rest is mixed in.
Fresh figs
Provide the main flavour and sweetness, plus moisture within the pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and balances the flavour of the figs.
Sweet milk
Adds liquid that the crumbs absorb, giving the pudding its moist texture.

The step that matters

Steaming over boiling water. Gentle, steady steam cooks the pudding evenly and keeps it moist. Letting the water boil dry or drop too low can leave the centre underdone or the edges dry.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cream, sugar, milk):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Raspberryfits about as well

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

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