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English Plum Pudding

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kaufman, Nettie M · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

two puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Add seeded raisins (not seedless).

  2. Beat 6 eggs.

  3. Add 1 lb. sultana raisins.

  4. Add 1 lb. milk.

  5. Add 1 lb. currants.

  6. Add a pinch of salt.

  7. Add 1 lb. beef suet, chopped fine.

  8. Add 4 lb. flour.

  9. Add 1 lb. bread crumbs.

  10. Add 1/4 lb. candied lemon peel, citron, and orange peel.

  11. Add 2 teaspoons mixed spices (ground).

  12. Flavor with orange or lemon extract.

Steam

  1. Steam eight or nine hours in well greased moulds. This will make two puddings.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

152Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
19 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
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 Kaufman, Nettie M. 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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Egg + orangetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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 help set the pudding's structure as it cooks.
Flour (in the method)
Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together.
Beef suet (in the method)
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich.
Bread crumbs (in the method)
Absorb liquid and give the pudding a tender, light body.
Milk (in the method)
Adds moisture and helps soften the crumbs and flour.
Sultana raisins (in the method)
Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Steam for eight or nine hours in greased moulds. Long, steady steaming cooks the dense batter evenly through. Stopping early leaves the centre wet and heavy, and well greased moulds help the pudding release cleanly.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Orangethe original
  2. Limefits about as well
  3. Raspberryfits less well
  4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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