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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, bread, raisins, apples, citron, eggs, cream, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,920 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped suet, grated bread, raisins, grated or chopped apples, and citron.

  2. Beat the eggs. Mix in the cream and spices.

  3. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a pudding mold. Cover.

  2. Boil for 3 hours in a large pot of water.

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 + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Bread + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Apple + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together865 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Bread + raisintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,111 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 it set firm as the pudding cooks.
Suet
Adds fat and richness, keeping the pudding moist as it cooks.
Grated bread
Provides body and absorbs the liquid to give the pudding structure.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the custard-like batter.
Apples
Contribute moisture and a little tartness to balance the sweet raisins.

The step that matters

Covering the mold before boiling. A tightly sealed cover keeps steam inside so the pudding cooks through evenly and stays moist. Without a good seal, water can enter the mold and make the pudding soggy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, raisin, apple, egg, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, raisin, apple, egg, 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.

More plum pudding recipes

English 165Christmas 156Sauce 71Eggless 34Baked 33Vegetable 19 See all 649 →

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