Name: Plum Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound raisins; ½ pound currants; ½ pound grated bread; ½ pound chopped apples; 4 eggs; ½ nutmeg, grated; ⅓ cup brandy; ¼ pound suet

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 ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Combine raisins, currants, grated bread, chopped apples, eggs, grated nutmeg, brandy, and suet in a large bowl and mix well until all ingredients are evenly combined.
Transfer the mixture to a pudding mold or heatproof bowl.
Boil for three hours in a pot of simmering water.

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.

Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

Eggs: Bind the mixture and add structure as the pudding sets during cooking.
Grated bread: Absorbs liquid and gives the pudding a soft, crumbly body.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

Swap the apple

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

Figfits better
Vanillafits about as well
Applethe original
Apricotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, bread, egg, nutmeg, 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.