Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 1½ cups chopped figs; 2 cups stale bread crumbs; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup chopped suet; 1 cup Graham flour; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk; 1 cup pecan nuts

Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

In a large bowl, combine chopped figs, stale bread crumbs, sugar, chopped suet, Graham flour, and pecan nuts.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the baking soda with the buttermilk or sour milk.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

Steam and serve

Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.
Steam the pudding for 3 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.

Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Fig + nutstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together154 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,180 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk or sour milk to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Buttermilk or sour milk: Provides acidity to activate the baking soda and adds moisture.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Stale bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the pudding body and texture.
Figs: Add sweetness, moisture and a chewy texture.

Swap the nuts

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

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits better
Walnutfits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, bread, sugar, flour, egg, buttermilk. 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.