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Dessert

Plum or Currant Dough Pudding

A boiled pudding made from baker's dough, plums or currants, allspice, salt, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Charles Elme Francatelli · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Plum and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 162 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Plum or Currant Dough Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix all the above ingredients together in a pan.

  2. Tie up the pudding in a well-greased pudding cloth.

Boil and serve

  1. Place it in a pot containing boiling water.

  2. Allow it to continue boiling for two hours.

  3. At the end of this time the pudding will be done, and may be turned out onto its dish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

184Calories
9 gProtein
8 gFat
21 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Charles Elme Francatelli. 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. Plum + allspicetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together162 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  2. Plum + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together406 recipes

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

  3. Allspice + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,947 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Dough
Provides the bulk and chewy structure that holds the pudding together.
Plums
Add moisture and fruity sweetness as they soften during cooking.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the dough.
Allspice
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour.

The step that matters

Keeping the pudding boiling for the full two hours. Steady boiling water supplies the heat that cooks the dough through. If the water drops below a boil for long, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn out heavy and underdone in the centre.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (plum, milk):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against plum, milk. 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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