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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with figs, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, eggs, milk, wine, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine chopped figs, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, eggs, milk, and wine.

  2. Add flour gradually until a batter forms.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a pudding mold.

  2. Steam for 2 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. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Fig + winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together195 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Provide the main sweet fruit flavor and moist, chewy texture in the pudding.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it steams.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the pudding body and a soft structure.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during steaming to give the pudding structure.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps the batter form a soft, cohesive texture.
Flour
Thickens the batter and gives the pudding its structure as it steams.

The step that matters

Add flour gradually until a batter forms. Adding flour gradually lets you judge the batter's thickness, so it is neither lumpy and dry nor too loose to hold its shape when steamed.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, egg, milk, wine, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Applefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, egg, milk, wine, flour. 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.

More fig pudding recipes

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