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Dessert

Iced Plum Pudding

A chilled plum pudding made with citron, milk, cream, sugar, currants, raisins, almonds, eggs, and preserved fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Iced Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds and fruit

  1. Take two dozen sweet and half a dozen bitter almonds; blanch in scalding water, then throw into a bowl of cold water.

  2. Pound the almonds one at a time in a mortar until they become a smooth paste, free from lumps. Add a few drops of rose water or lemon juice frequently to keep the paste light and prevent oiling.

  3. Seed and cut in half a quarter pound of the best bloom raisins.

  4. Mix the raisins with a quarter pound of Zante currants, picked, washed, and dried, and add to the raisins.

  5. Add three ounces of chopped citron, mix the citron with the almonds and currants, and dredge them all with flour.

Make the custard base

  1. Take a half pint of very rich milk, split a vanilla bean, cut it into pieces two or three inches long, and boil it in the milk until the vanilla flavor is extracted.

  2. Strain the vanilla milk and mix it with a pint of rich cream.

  3. Stir in gradually a half pound of powdered loaf sugar and grated nutmeg.

  4. Add the pounded almond paste and a large wine glass of either marasquino, noyau, curacoa, or the very best brandy.

  5. Beat the yolks of eight eggs in a shallow pan until very light, thick, and smooth. Stir the beaten yolks gradually into the mixture.

  6. Simmer the mixture over the fire, stirring constantly, but remove it just as it is about to come to a boil to avoid curdling.

  7. While the mixture is hot, stir in the raisins, currants, and citron.

  8. Set the mixture to cool.

Freeze and serve

  1. Add a large teacupful of preserved strawberries or raspberries, half a dozen preserved apricots or peaches, half a dozen preserved green limes, and any other delicate sweetmeats.

  2. Whip another pint of cream to a stiff froth and lightly fold it into the mixture.

  3. Pour the whole into a large melon mould that opens in the middle.

  4. Freeze it in the usual way; it will take four hours to freeze well.

  5. Do not turn it out until just before it is wanted, then serve on a glass dish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

401Calories
16 gProtein
19 gFat
45 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

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

By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). 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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  3. Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
Yolks thicken the custard base and give it a rich, smooth body when gently heated.
Powdered loaf sugar
Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point, keeping the frozen dessert soft and scoopable.
Rich cream
Adds fat and richness, giving a smooth texture that resists ice crystals.
Sweet almonds
Pounded into a paste, they add nutty flavor and body to the custard.
Zante currants
Add chewy sweetness and fruity flavor through the frozen pudding.
Citron
Adds candied citrus flavor and a chewy texture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Simmer the custard without boiling. Stirring constantly and removing the mixture just before it boils keeps the egg yolks from overheating and curdling, which would leave the base grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, cream, egg, lemon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, cream, egg, lemon. 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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