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Dessert

Fig Pudding

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the figs and suet using a food chopper.

  2. Grate the white part of a stale loaf of bread until you have 1 cup.

Mix and steam

  1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together, adding the well-beaten eggs last.

  2. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold or pan.

  3. Steam for three hours.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with lemon 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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Provide the main body, sweetness and chewy texture of the pudding.
White grated bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding a soft, tender structure.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavour.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the crumbs and softens the mixture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it cooks.

The step that matters

Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold or pan. Steamed puddings can stick and tear when they are unmolded, so a thoroughly greased mold helps the pudding release cleanly and keep its shape.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, bread, sugar, milk, cinnamon, 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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