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Dessert

English Plum Pudding II

A steamed plum pudding made with flour, stale bread crumbs, raisins, currants, suet, sugar, molasses, candied orange peel, spices, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 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 ↓

English Plum Pudding II

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Mix the ingredients in the order given, forming a thick mixture.

  2. Shape the mixture into a square and coat it with flour.

  3. Wrap the square in a thickly floured unbleached cotton cloth.

  4. Tie the cloth securely, leaving some space to allow the pudding to swell.

  5. Plunge the wrapped pudding into a kettle of boiling water.

  6. Cook for five hours, keeping the pudding immersed in water the entire time.

  7. Serve with hard and liquid sauce.

Make the hard sauce

  1. Cream one-third cup butter.

  2. Gradually add one cup brown sugar and two tablespoons brandy, dropping it by drop.

  3. Force the mixture through a pastry bag with a rose tube.

  4. Garnish with green leaves and candied cherries.

Make the liquid sauce

  1. Mix one-half cup sugar, one-half tablespoon corn starch, and a few grains salt.

  2. Add one cup boiling water gradually while stirring constantly.

  3. Boil for five minutes.

  4. Remove from heat, add one tablespoon lemon juice and two tablespoons brandy.

  5. Color the sauce with fruit red.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

776Calories
21 gProtein
8 gFat
155 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 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
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Melts during cooking to keep the pudding moist and rich.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as the pudding cooks.
Flour
Gives the pudding body and structure so it holds its shape.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and lighten the texture of the pudding.
Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, sweet flavor.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Keep the pudding fully immersed for five hours. If the wrapped pudding rises above the water, the exposed part cooks unevenly and dries out. Steady boiling water keeps the heat even and the texture moist.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, bread, raisin, sugar, molasses, orange, nutmeg. 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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