Name: Plum Pudding, with Apples
Ingredients: 4 ounces apples, chopped very small; 4 ounces currants, cleaned and dried; 2 ounces raisins, stoned and chopped; 4 ounces bread crumb, finely grated; 1 heaped tablespoon loaf sugar; ½ ounce candied peel; 1½ ounces clarified butter; 4 eggs, well beaten

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Plum Pudding, with Apples

Ingredients

4 ounces apples, chopped very small
4 ounces currants, cleaned and dried
2 ounces raisins, stoned and chopped
4 ounces bread crumb, finely grated
1 heaped tablespoon loaf sugar
½ ounce candied peel
1½ ounces clarified butter
4 eggs, well beaten

Directions

Make the batter

Mix the chopped apples, currants, raisins, bread crumb, loaf sugar, and candied peel in a bowl.
Stir in the clarified butter and beaten eggs until well combined.

Cook

Pour the mixture into a buttered mold or tie it in a cloth.
Boil for 2 hours until cooked through.
For best results, prepare the pudding the day before serving.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,920 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 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

Eggs: Bind the mixture and set it firm as it cooks.
Bread crumb: Adds body and soaks up moisture so the pudding holds its shape.
Clarified butter: Adds richness and moisture to the pudding.
Apples: Add moisture and a fresh, tart note that balances the sugar.

Swap the currant

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

Figfits better
Vanillafits better
Pearfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, raisin, bread, sugar, butter, 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.