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Dessert

Steamed Brandy Pudding

A steamed pudding made with cake slices, brandy, raisins, almonds, butter, milk, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Steamed Brandy Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the molds

  1. Line the molds with split almonds coated in a thin layer of butter.

Assemble

  1. Spread the chopped raisins on the slices of cake.

  2. Fill the molds with the cake slices.

  3. Sprinkle the brandy by spoonfuls into the molds.

  4. Add bits of the remaining butter.

Add custard and steam

  1. Beat the eggs and milk together.

  2. Pour the mixture into the molds until they are full and the cake absorbs the liquid.

  3. Steam for 1½ 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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Brandy + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, binding the cake and milk into a firm pudding.
Milk
Forms the liquid custard that the cake absorbs and that cooks into a soft texture.
Slices of cake
Form the bulk of the pudding and soak up the custard as it steams.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a smoother, more tender crumb.
Brandy
Adds aroma and a warm flavour that carries through the soaked cake.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Pour the mixture until the cake absorbs the liquid. Pouring until the molds are full lets the cake soak up the custard so it sets evenly. Too little liquid leaves dry, patchy pockets, while steaming without enough custard can leave the pudding dense.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, butter, milk, egg, almond):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, butter, milk, egg, almond. 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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