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Dessert

Victoria Pudding

A steamed suet pudding with apples, apricot jam, mixed peel, cherries, and a custard base.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓

Victoria Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel, core, and finely chop the apples.

  2. Mix the apples with the suet, bread crumbs, flour, mixed peel, cherries, and sugar.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs well, then add the jam, cream, and brandy; mix thoroughly.

  2. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and beat well.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

  2. Cover with buttered paper.

  3. Steam for 1.5 to 2 hours.

  4. Serve with a suitable 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. Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together777 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).

  2. Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

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 help it set firm as it steams.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the pudding a light, crumbly body.
Flour
Provides structure that holds the pudding together when cooked.
Apricot jam
Adds sweetness and moisture while contributing fruity flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb.

The step that matters

Steaming the pudding. The mold must be well buttered and covered so the pudding releases cleanly and cooks evenly. Steam keeps the surface moist while the egg and flour set the structure, so the pudding stays tender rather than drying out or cooking unevenly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, flour, apricot, sugar, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, flour, apricot, sugar, egg, 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.

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