Why it works: Fig and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,241 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Fig Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the ingredients in the order given.
Steam for four hours.
Serve with a wine or hard sauce.
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.
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Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,241 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Fig + eggtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,406 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Soda crackers
- Crumbs absorb moisture and bind the pudding into a loose, tender mass.
- Figs
- Add sweetness, moisture, and the main fruity flavor.
- Suet
- Its fat keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set as the heat cooks it.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding moist.
The step that matters
Steam for four hours. Steaming gives gentle, moist heat that cooks the pudding evenly. If the water runs low or the pot boils dry, the pudding can dry out and cook unevenly.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Figthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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