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Dessert

Brown Pudding

A steamed pudding made with Graham flour, molasses, dried fruit, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Brown Pudding

Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Brown Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Butter a pint bowl or mold.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix Graham flour, baking powder, melted butter, molasses, water, and egg (if using).

  2. Stir in dried currants, raisins, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

Steam and serve

  1. Fill the prepared bowl with the mixture and cover with greased paper.

  2. Steam in a pot of boiling water for 2½ hours.

  3. Serve with wine or lemon sauce.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Graham flour
Forms the bulk of the pudding and gives it a hearty, structured crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the pudding rise and turn light.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a rich sweetness with depth.
Melted butter
Adds fat, which tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness when used.
Dried currants
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy bursts of fruit through the pudding.

The step that matters

Steaming for the full time. Steam must stay at a steady boil with enough water in the pot. If the water drops or stops simmering, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn dense and gummy inside.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, molasses, egg, raisin, cinnamon, allspice):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, molasses, egg, raisin, cinnamon, allspice. 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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