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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, figs, apples, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, brown sugar, salt, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped suet, figs, and sour apples.

  2. Add the stale bread crumbs, milk, beaten eggs, brown sugar, salt, and flour to the mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold and cover it.

Steam

  1. Steam 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. Fig + appletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together238 recipes

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

  2. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Flour
Provides structure so the pudding holds its shape when set.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deeper, molasses-like flavor.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and lighten the body of the pudding.
Figs
Contribute sweetness, chewy texture, and fruity flavor.

The step that matters

Steam for 4 hours. Steaming must stay gentle and steady so the water does not run dry or boil hard. Steady, moist heat cooks the eggs and flour through evenly without drying or toughening the pudding.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, bread, milk, egg, sugar, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, bread, milk, egg, sugar, flour. 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.

More fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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