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Dessert

Fig Pudding, II

A steamed pudding made with figs, suet, milk, sugar, bread crumbs, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Pudding, II

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine figs, suet, milk, sugar, bread crumbs, eggs, and spices in a bowl and mix until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a pudding mold.

  3. Boil for three hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with clear 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. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 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

Figs
Provide the main fruit flavour and body of the pudding.
Suet
Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a moist, tender texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding a soft, cake-like body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the figs and spices.

The step that matters

Boil for three hours. Steady, gentle boiling cooks the eggs and crumbs through evenly. Too rapid or too low a simmer can leave the pudding uneven or undercooked, so keep the water at a steady simmer and top it up as needed.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, bread, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Datesfits less well
  4. Raisinfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, bread, egg. 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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