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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A boiled pudding made with figs, beef suet, bread crumbs, brown sugar, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and bread work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 374 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped figs, shredded beef suet, bread crumbs, and brown sugar.

  2. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold and boil for 3 hours.

  2. Serve with hard butter 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 + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

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

  4. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  5. Fig + beeftop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together116 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
Yolks enrich the batter and whites, beaten to stiff peaks and folded in, lighten its texture.
Bread crumbs
Bulk out the batter and give the pudding its body as they absorb moisture.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich during cooking.
Figs
Provide the main fruit flavour and sweetness, with moisture from their flesh.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses note to the batter.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the batter. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, leaving a denser pudding. Fold gently so the mixture stays light.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Pumpkinfits about as well

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

More fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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