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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with beef kidney fat, raisins, bread crumbs, spices, eggs, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the raisins in lukewarm water.

  2. Place the raisins in a bowl with the chopped peel, steeping in a little brandy.

  3. Trim and finely chop the beef kidney fat.

Mix the pudding

  1. Mix the chopped fat with 1 tablespoon of flour, bread crumbs, brown sugar, and eggs.

  2. Add the raisins, peel, remaining brandy, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and finally the cream, mixing well.

  3. Spread the mixture in a well-buttered large napkin.

  4. Fold the corners of the napkin.

  5. Tie the napkin to form a round shape.

Boil and serve

  1. Plunge the pudding into a saucepan of boiling water.

  2. Boil the pudding for at least 4 hours.

  3. Remove the pudding and let it drain in a sieve.

  4. Cut from the top to level it.

  5. Turn the pudding out onto a dish, carefully removing the napkin.

  6. Sprinkle with a little rum sauce.

  7. Optionally light the pudding on the table.

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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,833 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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 add richness and structure as they set during boiling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding its body and soft crumb.
Beef kidney fat
Adds moisture and richness as it melts during the long boil.
Raisins
Provide sweetness, chew and moisture throughout the pudding.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deeper, caramel-like flavour.
Brandy or rum
Adds aroma and flavour and helps the raisins absorb liquid.

The step that matters

Boil the pudding for at least 4 hours. A long, steady boil cooks the eggs and starch through and sets the pudding, so it must be kept submerged and gently boiling the whole time.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, bread, flour, sugar, nutmeg, ginger):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Lemonfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, bread, flour, sugar, nutmeg, ginger. 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 plum pudding recipes

English 165Christmas 156Sauce 71Eggless 34Baked 33Vegetable 19 See all 649 →

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