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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A traditional British dessert made with suet, dried fruit, spices, and alcohol, baked or steamed for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 22 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine one-half cupful of sour milk, one cupful of butter, one cupful of chopped suet, eleven eggs, two and one-half cupfuls of brown sugar, one slice of citron cut into fine pieces, one gill of brandy, two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, two cloves, one-half teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoon of soda, and two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar.

  2. Stir in flour until it makes a stiff batter.

  3. Take fresh lemon and orange peel, grate them, and mix.

  4. Add sufficient flour to bind the mixture together with one-half pint of old ale or milk.

Boil and serve

  1. Put the mixture in a bag and place it in boiling water, keeping it boiling hard for four hours.

  2. Boil or steam for six hours.

  3. Make sauce: combine one gill of brandy, one cupful of sugar, one-half cupful of butter, one grated nutmeg, one pint of boiling water, and thicken with flour.

  4. Make a sauce of wine, browned flour, butter, sugar, and water, and boil it.

  5. Use half of this recipe to make a good sized pudding.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

913Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
139 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
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Brandynot in our table0
Waternot 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 Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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 add structure and richness as the pudding sets.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and gives a rich texture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding body and a tender crumb.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and richness for a moist, tender pudding.

The step that matters

Keeping the water boiling hard. If the water drops below a full boil, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn heavy or soggy. Steady heat over the long cooking time sets the batter through and keeps it light.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, brandy, pepper, raisin, bread):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, brandy, pepper, raisin, bread. 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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