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Dessert

Steamed Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with shredded wheat crumbs, whole wheat flour, fig mince, molasses, and melted Ko‑nut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Steamed Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine shredded wheat biscuit crumbs, whole wheat flour, fig mince, salt, allspice, cinnamon, molasses, baking soda, and cold water in a large bowl. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Stir in melted Ko-nut.

Steam

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam the pudding until fully cooked.

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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Fig + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together614 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  3. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Biscuit + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together312 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Fig + allspicetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Shredded wheat biscuit crumbs
Form the bulk of the pudding and absorb moisture to give it body.
Whole wheat flour
Adds structure and a nutty, earthy flavour to the pudding.
Fig mince
Provides the fruity sweetness and moist, chewy texture characteristic of the dish.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the pudding and help it rise.
Ko-nut
Adds fat, which contributes richness and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Steam the pudding until fully cooked. Steaming cooks the batter gently with moist heat, so it sets evenly without drying. Undercooking leaves it dense and gummy in the centre, so check that it is firm and cooked through before unmoulding.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, biscuit, flour, allspice, cinnamon, molasses):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Blueberryfits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Vanillafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, biscuit, flour, allspice, cinnamon, molasses. 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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