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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with figs, suet, bread crumbs, eggs, milk, sugar, brandy, nutmeg, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the suet, removing all strings.

  2. Grate the bread.

  3. Rub the suet and bread crumbs together.

  4. Add the baking powder and chopped figs to the mixture.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together.

  2. Add the milk.

  3. Combine all ingredients.

  4. Add the egg whites last.

  5. Pour the mixture into a mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for 3 hours.

  2. Serve with a liquid sauce flavored with brandy and nutmeg.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

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

  4. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whites add lightness to the pudding.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and fat to give the pudding its body.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Figs
Provide sweetness, moisture and the main flavor of the pudding.
Baking powder
Releases gas that helps the pudding rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Add the egg whites last. Whites hold air that gives lightness. Folding them in gently at the end, rather than beating them into the batter, keeps that air from collapsing and keeps the texture light.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

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