Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Fig Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Mix the flour, sugar, minced beef suet, nutmeg, lemon juice, eggs, brandy, and figs in a large bowl until well combined.
Transfer the mixture to a pudding mold.
Cook and serve
Boil the pudding for 4 hours.
Serve with wine 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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + figtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together510 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + figtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together763 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Brandy + figtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together222 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 help set the pudding as it cooks.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together.
- Minced beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich.
- Figs
- Add juicy sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb.
The step that matters
Boil the pudding for 4 hours. The pudding must stay at a steady simmer for the full time so the eggs and flour set through. Boiling too hard or letting the water level drop can make the pudding uneven or dry.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, beef, nutmeg, egg, brandy, fig):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, beef, nutmeg, egg, brandy, fig. 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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