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Dessert

Pbabody English Pudding

A steamed English pudding of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, raisins, currants, citron, spices and French brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pbabody English Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Beat the eggs light with the sugar.

  2. Cream the flour and butter together, then stir it into the eggs and sugar mixture.

  3. Flour the citron strips with the raisins and currants.

  4. Mix the spices and lemon sugar into the brandy, then add to the mixture.

  5. Slowly stir in the fruit, one handful at a time, starting with the raisins, then currants, and finally citron.

Boil and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a pudding mold and boil for 6 hours, adding hot water as needed.

  2. Garnish with blanched almonds, pour ½ cup French brandy over it, and set it on fire at the table.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten light, they give the pudding structure and lift as it sets.
Butter
Creamed with the flour, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the body of the pudding once it is combined with butter and eggs.
Raisins
Add sweetness and moisture to the pudding.
Currants
Add sweetness, moisture and a tart fruit flavor throughout.

The step that matters

Boil for 6 hours, adding hot water as needed. A long gentle boil cooks the eggs and flour through without drying the pudding. The water level must be kept up so the mold does not boil dry or scorch.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, raisin, brandy, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, raisin, brandy, clove, nutmeg. 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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