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Dessert

Hartford Pudding, or Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with dried bread crumbs, brown sugar, milk, currants, raisins, suet, spices, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hartford Pudding, or Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well until fully combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.

Steam

  1. Steam for 3 to 4 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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 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

Dried bread crumbs
Provide body and bulk that help the pudding hold its shape.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deeper, molasses-like flavor.
Milk
Adds moisture that softens the crumbs and flour into a batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter to help it rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Steaming the pudding. The mold must be sealed and the steaming water kept at a steady simmer for the full time. Steam heats the pudding gently and evenly, and if the water drops or boils away the pudding can turn dense or dry.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, milk, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, milk, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, flour. 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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