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Cabinet Pudding a LA Francaise

A custard‑filled pudding made with lady‑fingers, candied cherries, citron, raisins, currants, macaroni, and eggs, baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Margaret Brown · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,180 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓

Cabinet Pudding a LA Francaise

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mould

  1. Scrape the crust off ½ pound of lady‑fingers and butter them.

  2. Butter a fluted pudding mould well and stick the lady‑fingers up all around it.

Make the filling

  1. Combine ¼ pound candied cherries, ¼ pound citron, ¼ pound raisins (seeds removed), ¼ pound currants (washed clean), and ½ dozen macaroni.

  2. Take the scrapings and remaining lady‑fingers, leaving out 8 for the top, and mix them with the fruit and macaroni.

  3. Put the mixture into the mould, adding a layer of butter on top.

  4. Make a custard by whisking 5 egg whites, 7 egg yolks, and 1 quart of milk; sweeten to taste.

  5. Pour the custard over the cake and fruit in the mould.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil slowly for 2½ hours.

  2. Make a sauce by mixing a tumbler of Jamaica rum, a tumbler of milk, and 2 eggs; stir until it almost boils.

  3. Serve the pudding hot.

  4. Beat the 2 remaining egg whites lightly and spread them over the pudding when removed from the mould.

  5. Drop a few candied cherries on top and serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

376Calories
16 gProtein
14 gFat
51 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Macaroninot 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 Margaret Brown. 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 + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  2. Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  3. Currant + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Raisin + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Lady-fingers
Absorb the custard and form the soft, cake-like body of the pudding.
Eggs
Set the custard, giving the pudding its firm yet tender structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and richness.
Candied cherries
Add concentrated sweetness and bright flavour throughout the pudding.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 2½ hours. Gentle, sustained heat lets the egg custard set evenly without curdling or becoming spongy. Boiling too hard can cause the eggs to overcook and weep, leaving a rough texture.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, milk, egg. 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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