Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 1 lb figs, chopped fine; 3 eggs; 1 cup sweet milk; ½ lb suet; 1 cup maraschino cherries, chopped; ½ lb bread crumbs; ½ lb sugar; 1 teaspoon baking powder

Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and sweet milk.
Add the bread crumbs, suet, and chopped figs to the mixture.
Stir in the maraschino cherries and baking powder.

Steam and serve

Pour the mixture into a large mold or individual molds.
Steam for 2.5 hours.
Serve hot with a rich 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.

Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,026 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,241 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

Figs: Provide the main body, sweetness and moist fruit texture throughout the pudding.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, tender pudding as it steams.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the liquid and give the pudding its soft, cake-like body.
Baking powder: Releases gas during cooking so the pudding rises and becomes light.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and helps tenderise its texture.