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Dessert

Christmas Pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, citrus peel, almonds, spices, suet, bread crumbs, eggs, milk, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Christmas Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Seed the raisins, wash the currants, and cut the citron, orange, and lemon peel into thin slices.

  2. Blanch the almonds and cut them into thin strips.

  3. Mix the spices in a bowl and set aside.

Make the pudding mixture

  1. Beat the egg yolks into the sugar, then grate the yellow part of one lemon peel and gradually add the milk, chopped suet, and bread crumbs.

  2. Add the fruit and spice mixture, then fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.

Steam and store

  1. Butter a tin mold or bowl and pack the pudding mixture tightly, leaving no space for it to swell.

  2. If boiling in a bowl, tie a cloth around it.

  3. Ensure the water in the pot reaches the top of the pudding mold.

  4. Suspend the pudding in the water to prevent it from becoming water-soaked.

  5. Boil for 6 hours on the day it is made, then hang it in a cold cellar.

  6. On Christmas morning, place the pudding back in the mold and boil for an additional 2 hours.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  5. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites folded in beaten to stiff peaks give the pudding a light, airy structure.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and egg, providing the body that holds the pudding together.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich during long boiling.
Raisins
Provide sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the pudding its tender crumb.

The step that matters

Pack the mixture tightly into the mold. Leaving space lets the pudding swell as it cooks, so it can burst or sag. Packing it firmly also helps it hold its shape during the long boil.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, orange, lemon, almond, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cranberryfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, orange, lemon, almond, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace. 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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