Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound figs, chopped fine; ¼ pound bread crumbs; ¼ pound brown sugar; ¼ pound suet; ¼ pound candied lemon peel; ¼ pound candied citron; 1 nutmeg, grated; 5 eggs

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

Mix the chopped figs, bread crumbs, brown sugar, suet, candied lemon peel, candied citron, and grated nutmeg thoroughly.
Add the eggs and mix until well combined.
Transfer the mixture into a mold.

Cook

Boil or steam the pudding for 4 hours.

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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together510 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together763 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs: Provide the main fruit flavor and moist, sweet body to the pudding.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and give the pudding a soft, light structure.
Suet: Adds fat that gives a rich, tender texture as it melts during cooking.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help set the pudding as it cooks.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavor.