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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, flour, breadcrumbs, candied citron, eggs, milk, and spices, served with spirit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Combine one pound raisins (Valencia best, stoned) and one pound seedless raisins, one pound currants, one pound flour, one pound fine bread crumbs, one-quarter pound shredded candied citron, two teaspoons salt (or more), mixed spice to taste, and eight well-beaten eggs.

  2. Mix the whole well together with new milk into as stiff a batter as can be worked, until thoroughly incorporated.

Boil the pudding

  1. Place the mixture into a strong pudding cloth, rubbing the outside with butter to prevent sticking. Leave a little room for expansion, buttied tight with stout twine.

  2. Place a plate in the bottom of a kettle to avoid burning, and boil not less than seven hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with heated spirit poured over, in a large dish, light with writing paper, and decorate with three or four sprigs of holly with berries on. This dish should be served last at dinner, with lights lowered, until cut up.

  2. This pudding will keep for weeks (if not eaten), and is better cold than hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

595Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
112 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Bread + teatop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together383 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and set the pudding firm as it boils.
Flour
Provides the body and structure that holds the pudding together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and eggs, giving a tender, moist crumb.
Raisins
Add sweetness, moisture and chew to the pudding.
Currants
Add concentrated sweetness and tartness along with moisture.

The step that matters

Boil not less than seven hours. Long, steady boiling cooks the eggs and flour through and sets the dense batter; a plate on the kettle bottom keeps the cloth from scorching against the metal.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, flour, bread, tea, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, flour, bread, tea, egg. 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.

More plum pudding recipes

English 165Christmas 156Sauce 71Eggless 34Baked 33Vegetable 19 See all 649 →

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