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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with butter crackers, figs, suet, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the rolled butter crackers, milk, and baking soda.

  2. Add the chopped figs, suet, brandy, beaten eggs, nutmeg, and sugar. Stir until well combined.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam for four hours.

  3. Serve with a wine or hard 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. Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together510 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

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

  4. Fig + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together222 recipes

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

  5. Butter + figtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter crackers
Soak up the milk and give the pudding its crumb-like body.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it steams.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich.
Baking soda
Reacts with the milk and helps the pudding rise and lighten.
Figs
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and fruity flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and adds to its browning and depth of flavor.

The step that matters

Keep the mold sealed and steaming steadily. Steaming gently and keeping water from entering the mold lets the batter set through and become moist. If the water boils too hard or the steam escapes, the pudding can turn dry or unevenly cooked.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, fig, brandy, egg, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, fig, brandy, egg, sugar. 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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