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Dessert

Webster Pudding

A steamed sweet pudding made with molasses, milk, suet, brandy, spices, currants, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Webster Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine one cup molasses, one cup milk, one cup suet, one-half cup brandy (or wine if desired), one teaspoon saleratus, one teaspoon cloves, one teaspoon cinnamon, one-half teaspoon nutmeg, two cups currants, and one teaspoon salt.

  2. Mix until the mixture is as soft as pound-cake batter.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the mixture for two hours.

  2. Serve with hard sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

294Calories
9 gProtein
9 gFat
48 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Brandynot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides sweetness, dark color and moisture to the pudding.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender while steaming.
Saleratus (in the method)
Acts as a leavening agent that helps the pudding rise and lighten.
Milk
Adds moisture that loosens the batter to a soft, pour-able consistency.
Currants
Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Mix until as soft as pound-cake batter. The batter must be soft enough to rise and cook through evenly while steaming. A stiff batter stays dense, while an overly thin one may cook unevenly and turn heavy.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, brandy, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, brandy, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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