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Dessert

Maigre Plum Pudding

A plum pudding made with milk, sugar, flour, butter, breadcrumbs, currants, raisins, brandy, mace, lemon peel, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Margaret Brown · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 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 ↓

Maigre Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Simmer 1/2 pint of milk with 2 blades of mace and a roll of lemon peel for 10 minutes.

  2. Strain the milk mixture into a basin and set it aside to cool.

  3. Beat 3 eggs in a basin with 3 ounces of loaf sugar and a third of a nutmeg.

  4. Add 3 ounces of flour to the egg mixture, beat well, and gradually add the cooled milk.

Mix and boil

  1. Stir in 3 ounces of fresh butter broken into small bits, 3 ounces of breadcrumbs, 3 ounces of currants washed and picked clean, and 3 ounces of raisins stoned and chopped, stirring well.

  2. Butter a mould, pour the mixture into it, and tie a cloth tight over the mould.

  3. Boil for 2½ hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with melted butter, 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy, and a little loaf sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

919Calories
29 gProtein
27 gFat
141 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Brandynot in our table0
Macenot 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 set into a firm, sliceable pudding as they cook.
Flour
Thickens the batter and gives the pudding body and structure.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb the liquid and give the pudding a light, tender crumb.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the pudding.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Currants
Add tart, fruity flavour and small pockets of chew throughout.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth over the mould. The cloth must be tight so the pudding holds its shape while steaming. Boiling water must not enter the mould, or the pudding turns soggy and waterlogged.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, flour, butter, currant, raisin, brandy):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, flour, butter, currant, raisin, brandy. 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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