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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with molasses, sweet milk, beef suet, figs, eggs, spices, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, mix together molasses, sweet milk, beef suet, figs, eggs, salt, baking soda mixture, cinnamon, cloves, and grated nutmeg until well combined.

  2. Butter a pan thoroughly and cover it loosely with a buttered cloth.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the pudding for two hours.

  2. Serve the pudding in its form with hard butter sauce or foamy sauce.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Fig + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together614 recipes

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

  5. Fig + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and moisture, and deepens the pudding's color and flavor.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help give the pudding its set structure.
Figs
Provide fruity sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the pudding and help it rise.

The step that matters

Steam the pudding for two hours. Steaming gently cooks the batter through while keeping it moist. Steam must be kept steady and water topped up, since a drop in heat can leave the pudding dense or undercooked in the centre.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Orangefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, beef, egg, cinnamon, clove, 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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