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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, suet, sugar, eggs, bread crumbs, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the raisins and currants in flour.

  2. Mix all ingredients with enough milk or water to handle easily.

  3. Prepare a large pudding mold or a strong bag, leaving room for the pudding to swell.

Boil

  1. Boil water in a large vessel and place the pudding in when boiling.

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

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

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 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 add structure and richness as the pudding sets.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the pudding its body.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the pudding its dark, rich color.
Baking powder
Releases gas that helps the pudding rise and swell.
Raisins
Add sweetness, chew, and dried-fruit flavor throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Leave room for the pudding to swell. The mixture expands as it heats and the baking powder releases gas. Without room in the mold or bag, the pudding can burst or cook unevenly.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Applefits about as well
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, beef, sugar, egg, bread, brandy, nutmeg. 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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