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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, candied peel, apples, spices, eggs, and optional brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix

  1. In a large bowl, combine raisins, currants, suet, bread crumbs, brown sugar, candied peel, chopped apples, mixed spice, grated nutmeg, eggs, salt, and brandy if using.

  2. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

  3. Tie the mixture tightly in a cloth.

Boil and serve

  1. Boil in a pot of water for 6 hours.

  2. After boiling, hang the pudding until ready to serve.

  3. Before serving, boil again 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.

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

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

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Bread crumbs
Absorbs liquid and gives the pudding a soft, body-giving structure.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help set it into a cohesive pudding.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavor.
Apples
Contribute moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Tie the mixture tightly in a cloth. A loose cloth lets water seep into the pudding during the long boil, making it soggy and heavy. Snug wrapping keeps the pudding compact and moist.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, bread, sugar, apple, nutmeg, egg, brandy):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, bread, sugar, apple, nutmeg, egg, brandy. 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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