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 ↓
Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Slice the loaf of bread and cut off the crust, making medium-thick slices.
Butter each slice well and fit them into a cake tin in layers, sprinkling seeded raisins between the layers.
Make a sweet custard by whisking together the eggs and milk, then season with grated nutmeg.
Pour the custard over the bread, filling the tin, and press down with a weight to keep it submerged.
Soak and bake
Let it stand overnight. In the morning, if the custard has been absorbed, add more to cover.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for about an hour, or until it puffs up and is a nice light brown.
Serve with or without sauce.
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.
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Baker's bread
- Forms the body of the pudding, soaking up custard to become soft and tender.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure and a tender texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, moistening the bread as it soaks.
- Seeded raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chew distributed through the layers.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that helps the bread brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Let it stand overnight and top up the custard. The bread must fully absorb the custard to bake evenly. If the liquid has soaked in, adding more keeps the bread submerged so it cooks through and does not dry or stay patchy.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, milk, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, milk, nutmeg. 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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