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Dessert

Whortleberry Pudding

A steamed pudding made with molasses, spices, flour, whortleberries, and citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Whortleberry Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water and let it cool.

  2. In a large bowl, combine molasses, cinnamon or ginger, grated nutmeg, and the cooled baking soda mixture.

  3. Gradually add flour until the batter is stiff enough.

  4. Gently fold in the whortleberries and citron.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a suitable steaming dish.

  2. Steam for 4 hours or longer.

  3. 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure of the batter so it holds together as it steams.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
Whortleberries
Add tart fruit flavor and moisture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Gradually adding the flour. Flour should be added slowly so the batter reaches a stiff but smooth consistency without lumps. Too much flour at once makes the pudding dense and dry, while too little leaves it loose and likely to collapse during long steaming.

“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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