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Dessert

Brown-bread Pudding

A boiled pudding made from brown bread crumbs, currants, suet, sugar, eggs, brandy, cream, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,920 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Brown-bread Pudding

7 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Mix

  1. Grate 3/4 lb of brown bread crumbs from a stale brown loaf.

  2. Add the currants and suet, ensuring the suet is finely chopped.

  3. Add the remaining ingredients (moist sugar, eggs, brandy, cream, nutmeg).

  4. Beat the mixture well for a few minutes.

Boil and serve

  1. Pour into a buttered basin or mould.

  2. Tie the basin tightly.

  3. Boil for nearly 4 hours.

  4. Serve with sweet sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

141Calories
7 gProtein
12 gFat
2 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
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Brandynot 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 Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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 mixture and help it set firm as it cooks.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the soft, tender crumb.
Brandy
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour to the pudding.
Brown bread crumbs (in the method)
Form the bulk of the pudding and soak up the liquids.
Suet (in the method)
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.

The step that matters

Tie the basin tightly.. A tight cover keeps boiling water out of the basin and traps steam inside. Water entering the basin would make the pudding soggy, and steam escaping would let it dry out during the long boil.

“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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