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Dessert

Cristmas Plum Pudding

A traditional British dessert made with raisins, currants, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, candied peel, spices, and eggs, steamed for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Cristmas Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Combine raisins, currants, suet, bread crumbs, brown sugar, candied peels, nutmeg, ginger, mixed spice, and salt in a large bowl.

  2. Beat egg yolks and egg whites separately in a separate bowl until the whites are frothy.

  3. Mix beaten eggs into dry ingredients until well combined.

  4. If mixture is too dry, add more eggs.

Fill and wrap the mold

  1. Grease a mold or bowl and fill it with the mixture.

  2. Grease a plate and place it upside down on top.

  3. Dip a pudding cloth in boiling water, dredge it with flour, and tie it securely around the mold.

Boil and serve

  1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot.

  2. Submerge the pudding and keep it covered with water, replenishing as needed.

  3. Boil for 6 hours the first day, then 2 hours before serving.

  4. Plunge the pudding into cold water before untying the cloth to prevent sticking.

  5. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

  6. Serve with 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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  4. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  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

Eggs
Bind the mixture and add structure and richness as the pudding sets.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding a soft, tender body.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep molasses flavour.
Raisins
Add sweetness, chew and concentrated fruit flavour.

The step that matters

Keeping the pudding submerged while it boils. If the water level drops and the pudding is exposed, it dries out and the surface cooks unevenly. Replenishing with boiling water keeps the heat steady and the texture moist.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, beef, bread, sugar, lemon, orange, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Cranberryfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, beef, bread, sugar, lemon, orange, 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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