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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, bread crumbs, sugar, figs, eggs, milk, brandy, nutmeg, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the suet, bread crumbs, sugar, chopped figs, and grated nutmeg.

  2. In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk and brandy.

  3. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir in the yeast powder.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam for 3 hours until cooked through.

  3. Serve with a wine 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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together510 recipes

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

  2. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

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

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + figtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Fig + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Bread crumbs
Provides the bulk and structure that holds the pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Figs
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and fruity flavor.
Yeast powder
Lifts the batter so the pudding becomes lighter in texture.

The step that matters

Steam for 3 hours until cooked through. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the eggs and crumb through without drying the pudding. Letting the water boil dry or cutting the time short can leave the centre wet or the edges tough.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, fig, egg, milk, brandy. 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 fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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