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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with molasses, suet, flour, figs, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine molasses, suet, flour, chopped figs, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

  2. Dissolve the mixture with a teaspoon of hot water and mix in milk.

  3. Beat the egg well and stir it into the mixture.

  4. Steam the pudding for 2½ 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. Fig + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together614 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  3. Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 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

Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps it set firmly while steaming.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding rich and tender.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour, and moisture, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
Figs
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and moisture throughout the pudding.
Baking soda
Releases gas when it reacts with the acidic molasses, helping the pudding rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Steam the pudding for 2½ hours. A long, gentle, steady steam cooks the batter through without drying it out or making it heavy. Vigorous boiling or a dry steamer can leave the pudding dense or scorched, so keep the steam even for the full time.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Blueberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, flour, egg, cinnamon, 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.

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