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Dessert

Perfection Plum Pudding

A rich, spiced pudding made with cake crumbs, dried fruit, nuts, spices, and brandy, boiled for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,917 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Rub butter and sugar together.

  2. Add eggs one at a time.

  3. Add flour and milk.

  4. Add cake crumbs toasted and ground.

  5. Soak spices in brandy and add to mixture.

Prepare the fruit and nuts

  1. Cut almonds and pecans into rather large pieces and citron into thin slices.

  2. Seed raisins.

  3. Wash currants and add to batter.

Boil and serve

  1. Put mixture in pudding mould.

  2. Boil steadily for 5 hours.

  3. Serve with liquid sauce, seasoned with brandy and whipped cream.

  4. When pudding is placed on table, pour brandy over it and light.

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,711 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and give the pudding its structure as they set.
Flour
Provides the starch and framework that holds the pudding together.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender, moist crumb.
Sugar
Creams with the butter and adds sweetness.
Milk
Adds moisture so the batter is soft and pourable.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the spices and the finished pudding.

The step that matters

Boil steadily for 5 hours. The batter sets through slow, sustained heat. A steady boil for the full time cooks the centre evenly, while a weak or interrupted boil can leave the pudding dense and undercooked.

Flavor stand-ins for the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, allspice, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, flour):

  1. Walnutbetter flavor fit
  2. Chestnutbetter flavor fit
  3. Pistachiobetter flavor fit
  4. Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, allspice, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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