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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, breadcrumbs, dried fruit, almonds, eggs, citron, brandy, sherry, nutmeg, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine beef suet, bread crumbs, raisins, currants, sweet almonds, and bitter almonds in a large bowl.

  2. Add beaten eggs, citron, brandy, sherry, grated nutmeg, and sugar, then mix well.

  3. Transfer the mixture into a bowl or cloth.

Boil and serve

  1. Boil for 6 hours.

  2. Turn out the pudding.

  3. Pour over brandy and set it on fire.

  4. Serve immediately while surrounded by blue flame.

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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  5. Currant + sherrytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together393 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and structure that hold the pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm during boiling.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Citron
Adds candied, aromatic flavour and a chewy bite.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour, and the spirit ignites when poured on for serving.

The step that matters

Set it on fire. Alcohol vapour ignites only when warm and in enough quantity, so the pudding should be warm and the brandy poured over it just before lighting. Pouring cold or diluted spirit may fail to flame, and the flame must be handled away from the face and hair.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, raisin, almond, egg, brandy, sherry):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, raisin, almond, egg, brandy, sherry. 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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