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Dessert

Thanksgiving Pudding

A baked pudding made with eggs, milk, butter, sugar, spices, and soaked crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Thanksgiving Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the pudding

  1. Soak the crushed crackers in the milk until soft.

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together.

  3. Add the spices and beaten eggs to the butter mixture.

  4. Combine the soaked crackers with the butter mixture.

  5. Pour the mixture into a deep buttered pudding dish.

Bake

  1. Bake for 4 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked 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 mixture and help set the pudding as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the creamed base.
Crushed crackers
Soaked in milk, they give the pudding body and structure.
Sugar
Creamed with the butter for sweetness and a lighter texture.
Milk
Softens the crackers and adds moisture to the custard.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, egg, milk, butter, sugar):

  1. Cardamomfits about as well
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, egg, milk, butter, sugar. 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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