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Dessert

Frozen Plum Pudding

A custard-based frozen pudding with candied fruit, almonds, raisins, and macaroons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Frozen Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Make custard of milk, one-half the sugar, egg yolks, and salt.

  2. Caramelize the remaining sugar and add.

Freeze and mould

  1. Strain, cool, add remaining ingredients, freeze, and mould.

Optional baked version

  1. If a baked ice cream is desired, use whites of eggs for meringue, Baked Alaska (see p. 448).

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

421Calories
16 gProtein
20 gFat
43 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
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Fruitnot 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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sherry + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together517 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  5. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth, creamy structure.
Cream
Adds fat that keeps the frozen dessert rich and smooth rather than icy.
Sugar
Sweetens the base, and caramelized sugar adds deeper, toasty flavour.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard with the egg yolks.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a warm, fruity flavour to the pudding.
Candied fruit
Adds sweetness, chew and bright flavour through the frozen base.

The step that matters

Caramelize the remaining sugar. Sugar moves from amber to burnt within seconds, and burnt sugar turns bitter and dark. Cook it until just amber, then add it carefully to the custard base.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, sherry, cream, almond):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, sherry, cream, almond. 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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