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Dessert

English Plum Pudding I

A steamed plum pudding made with stale bread crumbs, milk, sugar, eggs, dried fruit, suet, spices, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and fig work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding I

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak bread crumbs in milk, let stand until cool.

  2. Add sugar, beaten yolks of eggs, raisins, currants, figs, and citron.

  3. Chop suet and cream by using the hand.

Mix and steam

  1. Combine mixtures, then add wine, brandy, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, mace, and whites of eggs beaten stiff.

  2. Turn into buttered mould, cover, and steam six hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

880Calories
29 gProtein
16 gFat
151 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Fig1 medium (50g)37
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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 Fannie Merritt Farmer. 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 + figtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + figtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks bind the batter and whites beaten stiff lighten its texture.
Stale bread crumbs
Soak up the milk and give the pudding its body.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Raisins
Provide sweetness and chewy moisture throughout the pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and adds to its soft, tender crumb.
Milk
Softens the bread crumbs and adds moisture to the batter.

The step that matters

Turn into buttered mould, cover, and steam six hours.. The mould must be sealed so steam cooks the pudding gently and evenly without drying it out. Steady, gentle steam over a long time sets the batter into a moist, cohesive pudding.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, egg, raisin, fig, wine. 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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