Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Christmas Plum-pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the ingredients
Stone and cut the raisins in halves without chopping them.
Wash, pick, and dry the currants.
Mince the suet finely and cut the candied peel into thin slices.
Grate the bread into fine crumbs.
Mix all the dry ingredients well together.
Moisten the mixture with the beaten eggs and brandy, stirring thoroughly.
Boil the pudding
Press the pudding into a buttered mold and tie it tightly with a floured cloth.
Boil for 5 to 6 hours. Alternatively, boil in a cloth without a mold for the same time.
After boiling, hang the pudding up to drain, placing a plate underneath.
On the day of serving, plunge it into boiling water and keep boiling for at least 2 hours.
Serve
Turn it out of the mold and serve with brandy sauce.
For presentation, place a sprig of holly in the middle and pour brandy around it, lighting it before serving.
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.
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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + brandytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together976 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raisins
- Provide sweetness and chewy body throughout the pudding.
- Currants
- Add concentrated fruit flavour and small pockets of chew.
- Bread crumbs
- Bind the mixture and absorb liquid to give the pudding its body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help it set as it cooks.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavour while helping the pudding keep well.
The step that matters
Tying the pudding and the long boil. The cloth or mold must be tied firmly so water cannot enter and dilute the mixture. The pudding must stay fully submerged and boiling steadily, otherwise it cooks unevenly and can turn heavy or waterlogged.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (currant, bread, egg, brandy):
- Red currantfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against currant, bread, egg, brandy. 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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