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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, apples, suet, flour, bread crumbs, lemon peel, spices, brandy, milk, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fredonia, N.Y. Trinity parish guild, comp. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix

  1. Season to taste with ground cloves, ginger and nutmeg.

  2. Add a wine-glass (2 fl. oz.) of brandy, a very little milk and 4 eggs, then mix very thoroughly.

Fill and steam

  1. Butter a mould.

  2. Fill the mould and cover with a paper or cloth.

  3. Steam for 4 hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with arrow-root sauce, made with water and seasoned with brandy and a little sweet wine.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

973Calories
47 gProtein
23 gFat
143 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

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

By Fredonia, N.Y. Trinity parish guild, comp. [from old catalog]. 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. Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Raisin + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it firm as it steams.
Beef suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender.
Flour
Gives the pudding body so it holds its shape.
Bread crumbs
Soak up liquid and add bulk to the pudding.
Stoned raisins
Add sweetness and a chewy texture.

The step that matters

Steam for 4 hours. A steady, gentle steam cooks the batter through and sets the eggs without drying the pudding. Covering the mould keeps the steam in and the surface moist, so the pudding stays tender rather than tough.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, apple, beef, flour, bread, lemon, 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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