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Dessert

Iced Plum Pudding

A chilled pudding made with almonds, dried fruits, preserved berries, cream, and alcohol, folded with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Iced Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds and fruit

  1. Blanch the sweet and bitter almonds in scalding water, then place them in cold water.

  2. Pound the almonds one at a time in a mortar, adding rose water or lemon juice to keep them light.

  3. Mix the raisins, currants, and chopped citron, dredging with flour to prevent sinking.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk with the split vanilla bean until flavored, then strain and mix with cream.

  2. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar and grated nutmeg, then add the pounded almonds and the alcohol.

  3. Beat the egg yolks until light and smooth, then gradually stir them into the mixture.

  4. Simmer the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, and remove just before boiling.

  5. Stir in the raisins, currants, and citron while the mixture is hot, then let it cool.

Freeze and serve

  1. Add the preserved fruits and whipped cream, folding gently.

  2. Pour the mixture into a large melon mold and freeze for about four hours.

  3. Do not unmold until just before serving.

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 + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the custard, giving it a smooth, rich set when frozen.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the frozen pudding a smooth, tender texture.
Almonds
Contribute body and a nutty flavor to the mixture once pounded fine.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps keep the frozen texture soft rather than icy.
Raisins and currants
Add chewy sweetness and fruitiness throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Simmer the custard without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as they heat but curdle if they boil. Stirring constantly over low heat and removing the mixture just before boiling keeps the custard smooth and properly thickened.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, rose, raisin, flour, milk, vanilla, cream):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, rose, raisin, flour, milk, vanilla, 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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