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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A baked pudding made with suet, figs, bread crumbs, eggs, brown sugar, baking powder, and apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine suet, figs, bread crumbs, eggs, brown sugar, baking powder, and chopped apples. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

  3. Boil or steam for three 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. Fig + appletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together238 recipes

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

  2. Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Bread + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  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

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Provide body and structure, soaking up moisture to give the pudding a tender crumb.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help set its structure as it cooks.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
Figs
Add natural sweetness, moisture, and a jammy texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses note that deepens the flavor.

The step that matters

Boil or steam for three hours. The pudding must cook gently and steadily for the full time so the eggs set and the suet melts evenly. Water that boils dry or drops too low can leave the pudding underdone or heavy, so keep the water topped up.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Datesfits better
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, bread, 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.

More fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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