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Pies, Puddings, Tarts, Etc

A boiled plum pudding made with raisins, suet, sugar, candied peel, flour, bread crumbs, eggs, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Pies, Puddings, Tarts, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Pick and stone half a pound of Malaga raisins, wash and dry the same quantity of currants, chop not too finely.

  2. In a convenient basin, combine the raisins, currants, three-quarters of a pound of beef suet, six ounces of sugar, two ounces of mixed candied peel sliced, three ounces of flour, three ounces of bread crumbs, a little grated nutmeg, four eggs, and a gill of water (or a little more) to form a nice consistency.

Boil and serve

  1. Butter a mould, place a piece of white paper over the top and around the sides, tie it in a cloth.

  2. Boil the pudding for four hours in plenty of water.

  3. When done, remove the cloth, turn the pudding out of the mould, remove the paper from the sides and top, and serve with sweet sauce (or sweet sauce round).

  4. This is for Christmas only. For any other day, use the alternative method below.

Alternative method for other days

  1. Put into a basin one pound of flour, one pound of chopped suet, half a pound of mixed fruit, a little spice, grated lemon peel, three ounces of sugar, two eggs, half a pint of milk (or enough to make it a proper thickness).

  2. Tie the mixture in a cloth, boil for four hours, turn it out, and serve with melted butter or sweet sauce.

  3. Bread crumbs instead of flour is good, or half of each.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

894Calories
46 gProtein
22 gFat
124 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Waternot in our table0
Fruitnot 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.

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. Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help it set as the pudding cooks.
Beef suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender as it cooks.
Flour
Provides structure so the pudding holds its shape when turned out.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding a lighter, softer texture.
Malaga raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the suet.

The step that matters

Boil for four hours in plenty of water. Boiling slowly and steadily cooks the dense mixture through evenly. If the water stops boiling or drops below the pudding, the centre can stay undercooked and heavy.

“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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