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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, wheat flour, bread, figs, molasses, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and fig share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 70 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped suet, wheat flour, chopped figs, and molasses.

  2. Crumble the wheat bread into the mixture.

  3. Add the baking soda and cream of tartar, and mix well.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam for about 2 hours or until set.

  3. Serve warm with sauce.

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. Wheat + figtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together70 recipes

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

  2. Wheat + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Bread + figtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + figtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Wheat flour
Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
Figs
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and fruity flavor throughout the pudding.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep caramel-like flavor.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the mixture to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Cream of tartar
Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to help the pudding rise.

The step that matters

Steam for about 2 hours or until set. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the batter through without drying it out. Letting the steam escape or the water boil dry can leave the pudding dense or scorched, so the pot needs steady water level.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, bread, molasses, cream):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, bread, molasses, cream. 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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