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Webster Pudding

A molasses and raisin pudding thickened with flour and boiled for three hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Webster Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Warm the milk and dissolve the baking soda in it, then add the molasses.

  2. Mix the dry ingredients together and add them to the milk and molasses mixture.

  3. Thicken the batter with flour until it is rather stiff.

Boil and serve

  1. Pour the pudding into a well-floured bag and boil for three hours.

  2. Serve with your choice of 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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, moisture and a deep, rich flavor.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acidity to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Flour
Provides structure and thickens the batter so it holds its shape.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
Raisins or currants
Add chewy, sweet fruit pieces that stay moist during boiling.
Sweet milk
Supplies liquid that hydrates the flour and dissolves the soda.

The step that matters

Pour the pudding into a well-floured bag and boil for three hours.. The flour coating forms a thin skin that keeps the pudding from sticking to the bag and helps it hold its shape. Long, steady boiling gelatinizes the starch in the flour so the batter sets into a firm, cohesive pudding.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, butter, wine, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Applefits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, butter, wine, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. 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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