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Dessert

Christmas Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, raisins, currants, sugar, bread crumbs, candied peel, spices, brandy, flour, lemon zest, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

Christmas Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop 3/4 pound suet very finely.

  2. While chopping, mix in a tablespoonful of flour.

  3. Add 3/4 pound raisins, seeded.

  4. Add 3/4 pound currants.

  5. Add 3/4 pound sugar.

  6. Add 3/4 pound fresh bread crumbs.

  7. Add grated zest of one lemon.

  8. Add 1/4 pound candied orange peel and citron cut into thin shavings.

  9. Add 1/2 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.

  10. Mix the dry materials together thoroughly.

  11. Add six eggs, one at a time, and one half cupful of brandy.

  12. If the mixture is too stiff, add another egg; if too soft, add more crumbs.

Wrap and boil

  1. Wet a strong cloth in cold water, wring it dry, butter it, and dredge it well with flour.

  2. Turn the mixture into the center of the cloth and draw the cloth together over the top, leaving room for the pudding to swell, and tie it firmly; give it a good round shape.

  3. Put the wrapped mixture into a pot of boiling water, ensuring it is completely covered.

  4. Cover the pot and boil for four to five hours.

  5. Do not let the water fall below the pudding; when adding more water, keep it hot to maintain boiling.

  6. If the mixture is too large, divide and boil in small puddings.

Serve

  1. After removal from water, let it rest in the bag for ten minutes to harden a little.

  2. Cut the string and turn it carefully onto a dish.

  3. Cut a small hole in the top of the pudding and insert a paper bonbon case; trim it so it does not show.

  4. Pour rum or brandy onto the dish and into the paper box on top; place it on the table and touch it with a lighted taper.

  5. Serve with a brandy sauce.

  6. Puddings can be warmed when used.

  7. Slices of cold plum pudding may be steamed and served with sauce; or rolled in egg and crumbs and fried in hot fat as fruit croquettes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

662Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
130 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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 Mary Ronald. 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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help give the pudding its set structure.
Fresh bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding body and a tender crumb.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the fruit and spices.
Raisins
Provide chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness.
Currants
Add tart fruit flavour and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Keeping the water at a full boil. If the water drops below the pudding or stops boiling, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn heavy. Keep the pot topped up with hot water so the pudding stays fully covered and boiling for the full four to five hours.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, bread, orange, cinnamon, brandy, flour):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, bread, orange, cinnamon, brandy, flour. 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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