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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, eggs, milk, raisins, currants, citron, brandy, nutmeg, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the beef suet finely.

Make the pudding

  1. In a large bowl, combine the suet, eggs, milk, raisins, currants, citron, brandy, nutmeg, and flour, and mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a pudding cloth or a greased pudding mold.

Cook

  1. Boil in a pot of water for 4 hours.

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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm during cooking.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and softens the batter.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor while contributing a little moisture.

The step that matters

Boil in a pot of water for 4 hours. The pudding must stay submerged and at a steady simmer for the full time, since uneven heat or low water can leave the centre dense or undercooked. Keeping the cloth or mold sealed prevents water from entering and diluting the batter.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, egg, milk, raisin, brandy, nutmeg, flour):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, milk, raisin, brandy, nutmeg, flour. 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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