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Dessert

Old-fashioned Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with flour, suet, raisins, currants, candied citron, baking powder, molasses, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin 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 ↓

Old-fashioned Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine half-pound bread crumbs, one pound flour, one pound chopped suet, one pound raisins, half-pound currants, quarter-pound sugar, two ounces candied citron and lemon peel, four teaspoonfuls baking powder, two eggs, a heaping teaspoonful salt, spice to taste, and three large tablespoonfuls molasses.

  2. Mix the half pound of bread crumbs with milk or water.

Boil

  1. Grease a bowl, place the mixture in it, tie a cloth firmly over the top, turning the corners up, secure with a pin, leaving room for swelling, and boil.

  2. Boil for six hours, then set aside in a cool place; it will keep for weeks and can be reboiled.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1057Calories
32 gProtein
15 gFat
196 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Puddingnot 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 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together565 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the main structure of the pudding as its starch sets during boiling.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the pudding and helps it rise.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and add structure as they set.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Securing the cloth and leaving room for swelling. The pudding rises and expands while boiling, so the cloth must be tied firmly yet loosely enough to leave space, or the mixture can burst out or become compressed and heavy.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, bread, rice, sugar, milk, egg, molasses):

  1. Raisinthe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, bread, rice, sugar, milk, egg, molasses. 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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