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Dessert

An Unrivalled Plum Pudding

A rich fruit pudding made with raisins, currants, suet, spices, and brandy, baked in a cloth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

An Unrivalled Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Stone and cut the raisins, but do not chop them.

  2. Wash, pick, and dry the currants, then cut the candied peel into thin slices.

  3. Mix all the dry ingredients well together.

  4. Moisten the mixture with the well-beaten and strained eggs.

  5. Stir in the brandy until thoroughly mixed.

Cook and serve

  1. Butter and flour a stout new pudding cloth.

  2. Put the mixture into the cloth and tie it tightly.

  3. Boil for 6 to 8 hours.

  4. Serve with brandy sauce and garnish with blanched, sliced almonds.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 add structure as they set during the long boil.
Suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender as it steams.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the pudding a soft, cake-like body.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep, caramel-like flavour.
Raisins
Provide sweetness, chewy texture and concentrated fruit flavour.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour, and helps preserve the pudding.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth tightly. A tight tie keeps the mixture compact and prevents water from seeping in during the long boil, which would make the pudding soggy and loose.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, bread, egg, lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, bread, egg, lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon. 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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