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Dessert

Marlborough Pudding

A steamed wheatmeal pudding with sultanas, mixed peel, butter, sugar, eggs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Marlborough Pudding

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Marlborough Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  3. Sift in the flour and gently stir it into the butter mixture.

  4. Add a little milk if the mixture is too thick.

  5. Fold in the mixed peel cut into very fine strips and the sultanas.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold, filling it only three-quarters full.

  2. Steam for 2 hours.

  3. Turn out and serve with melted butter 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Allinson fine wheatmeal
Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
Butter
Creams with the sugar to trap air and adds richness and a tender texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps create a light, creamy base when beaten with butter.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set during steaming.
Sultanas
Add moisture and sweetness, with chewy pieces throughout the pudding.
Mixed peel
Adds citrus aroma and a bright, slightly bitter flavour that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Filling the mold three-quarters full. The batter rises and expands as it steams, so filling it fully can overflow or make the pudding heavy. Leaving room gives space for the rise.

“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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