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Ingoldsby Christmas Puddings

A rich, spiced bread pudding boiled for six hours, made with raisins, currants, suet, candied peel, spices, eggs, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ingoldsby Christmas Puddings

three puddings of good size

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mix thoroughly one pound finely grated bread with one pound flour, two pounds raisins stoned, two pounds currants, two pounds suet minced small, one pound sugar, half a pound candied peel, one nutmeg, half an ounce mixed spice, and grated rinds of two lemons.

  2. Mix the whole with sixteen eggs well beaten and strained, and add four glasses of brandy.

Boil the puddings

  1. These proportions will make three puddings of good size, each of which should be boiled six hours.

  2. For a richer pudding, omit half the flour and bread-crumbs and add a few spoonfuls of apricot marmalade blended with the remainder.

  3. Boil for four hours and a quarter.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

541Calories
14 gProtein
2 gFat
116 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Brandynot in our table0
Puddingnot 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 Eliza Acton. 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. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  4. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 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

Eggs (in the method)
Bind the mixture and add structure and richness as the pudding sets during boiling.
Suet (in the method)
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
Flour (in the method)
Gives the pudding body and structure so it holds together when boiled.
Raisins
Provide sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Sugar (in the method)
Adds sweetness and helps give the pudding a rich, deep flavour.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour depth to the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil for the full time. The pudding is cooked by long, steady boiling, which sets the eggs and flour into a firm, cohesive texture. Cutting the time short leaves it wet and loose in the centre.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, raisin, nutmeg, brandy):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, raisin, nutmeg, 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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