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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, flour, bread crumbs, raisins, currants, candied peel, brandy, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the chopped beef suet with flour and bread crumbs.

  2. Add the raisins, currants, candied peel, baking powder, salt, and spices.

  3. Stir in the brandy and beaten eggs until well combined.

Fill the cloth or mold

  1. Prepare a well-floured pudding cloth or a buttered mold.

  2. Transfer the mixture into the cloth or mold and secure it.

Boil and reheat

  1. Boil the pudding for 10 to 12 hours, ensuring constant boiling.

  2. To reheat, steam the pudding.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the pudding together after boiling.
Bread crumbs
Absorbs liquid and lightens the dense mixture for a softer texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm while cooking.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Baking powder
Releases gas that gives the pudding some lift and a lighter crumb.

The step that matters

Maintain constant boiling. If the water stops boiling for long stretches, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn heavy or soggy. Steady heat sets the structure through the long cook.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, bread, raisin, lemon, nutmeg, clove. 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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