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Dessert

Plain Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, butter, eggs, raisins, citron, nutmeg, molasses, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Plain Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, butter, beaten eggs, raisins, citron, grated nutmeg, and molasses in a large bowl.

  2. Mix well, adding milk if the mixture is not moist enough.

  3. Transfer the mixture into a pudding mold.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil for 4 hours.

  2. Serve warm.

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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and body that hold the pudding together as it steams.
Potatoes
Add moisture and a soft, tender crumb to the mixture.
Eggs
Bind the ingredients together and help the pudding set as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep, caramel-like flavor.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Adding milk. Milk should be added only if the mixture is not moist enough. Too much liquid makes the pudding heavy and wet, while too little leaves it dry and crumbly, so check the consistency before transferring it to the mold.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, raisin, nutmeg, molasses, milk):

  1. Sweet potatofits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Arrowrootfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, raisin, nutmeg, molasses, milk. 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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