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Herb Pudding

A boiled pudding made from greens, groats, onions, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,445 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Herb Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the spinach, beets, parsley, and leeks.

  2. Scald them in boiling water.

  3. Chop the greens very finely.

  4. Soak the groats in warm water for 30 minutes.

Make and cook the pudding

  1. Mix the soaked groats with the chopped greens, hog's lard, onions, sage, and salt.

  2. Tie the mixture tightly in a cloth and boil it to soften.

Serve

  1. Serve warm.

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. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Spinach + leektop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together42 recipes

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

  3. Leek + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  4. Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together759 recipes

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

  5. Spinach + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,025 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Groats
Form the bulk of the pudding and set into a firm, sliceable body as they cook.
Hog's lard
Adds fat for richness and a softer, moister texture in the cooked groats.
Onions
Contribute savory sweetness and aroma as they soften into the mixture.
Spinach
Adds leafy bulk, color, and a mild earthy flavor to the pudding.

The step that matters

Tie the mixture tightly in a cloth and boil it to soften. If the cloth is loose, water can seep in and the groats become soggy and waterlogged rather than set. A snug wrap keeps the pudding compact so it holds its shape as the starch in the groats gelatinizes.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, parsley, leek, sage):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, parsley, leek, sage. 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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