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Dessert

Whortleberry Pudding

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 flour.

  3. Add the cooled baking soda mixture and stir until well combined.

  4. Gently fold in the whortleberries.

  5. If the batter is too thin, add more flour until it reaches a stiff consistency.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the pudding for 4 hours or longer.

  2. 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

Molasses
Provides dark sweetness, moisture and a rich, deep flavor to the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses' acidity to help the pudding rise and lighten.
Flour
Builds the structure that holds the pudding together once steamed.
Whortleberries
Add tart fruitiness and moisture, and pockets of juice throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Adding flour to the batter. The batter must be stiff enough to hold its shape while steaming. If it is too thin, the whortleberries sink and the pudding turns heavy and soggy, so flour is added until the consistency is right.

“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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