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Dessert

Date and Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with dates, figs, candied orange peel, citron, walnuts, brown sugar, flour, bread crumbs, milk, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Dates and fig work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 318 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Date and Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Combine the chopped dates and figs in a bowl.

  2. Mix in the chopped candied orange peel and citron.

  3. Sprinkle the flour over the fruit mixture and mix thoroughly.

  4. Add the chopped walnuts and brown sugar, and mix well.

  5. Soften the brown bread crumbs with the milk, then add to the fruit and nut mixture.

  6. Stir in the beaten eggs until well combined.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a well-greased mold.

  2. Steam for 4 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. Dates + figtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together318 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Fig + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together373 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Fig + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 recipes

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

  4. Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together302 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Dates
Add moisture and natural sweetness, binding the pudding as they soften.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help set the pudding as it steams.
Brown bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and give the pudding body and a soft, dense texture.
Flour
Thickens the fruit mixture slightly and helps hold the pudding together.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavour.

The step that matters

Steam for 4 hours. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the eggs and starches through without drying the pudding. Letting the water boil dry or the steam drop too low can leave the pudding undercooked or dense.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (dates, fig, flour, walnut, sugar, bread, milk):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against dates, fig, flour, walnut, sugar, bread, milk. 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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