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 ↓
Fig Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dip a pudding cloth in boiling water and dredge it with flour.
In a large bowl, combine figs, bread crumbs, suet, sugar, milk, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and wine if desired.
Cook
Tie the cloth tightly, leaving room for the pudding to swell.
Steam the pudding for 3 hours.
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.
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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Fig + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together614 recipes
Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
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Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together510 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Fig + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,026 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Figs
- Provide the main body, sweetness and chewy texture of the pudding.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and eggs to give the pudding its soft, moist body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding rich and moist as it steams.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to the pudding's browned, rich flavour.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that softens the bread crumbs and helps the batter hold together.
The step that matters
Tie the cloth tightly, leaving room for the pudding to swell. Bread crumbs and eggs expand as the pudding heats. A loose cloth lets water in and leaves the pudding soggy, while a cloth tied with no room can burst or squeeze the pudding as it rises.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, milk, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Figthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Applefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, milk, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, wine. 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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