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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed dessert made with suet, raisins, currants, spices, and alcohol, baked in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 24 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the beef suet and ½ pound of seeded raisins together, pour ⅓ cup of brandy over the raisins, and set aside.

  2. In a large bowl, mix 1¼ pounds of seeded raisins, ¼ pound of cleaned currants, 2 ounces of shredded citron, 1 ounce of candied lemon peel, 1 ounce of candied orange peel, 2 ounces of blanched almonds, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ground cloves, and 1 grated nutmeg.

  3. Combine the chopped suet with ¾ pound of fine stale bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt, 1 pound of granulated sugar, the grated rind and juice of the orange and lemon.

  4. Knead in the brandy, Madeira, rum, cream, and beaten eggs until the mixture is compact; if too dry, add more cream.

  5. Grease molds well; use large or small molds as desired.

Steam and store

  1. Steam large puddings for 8 hours or individual puddings for 3 to 4 hours.

  2. Once cooled, store in a cold, dry place.

  3. To serve, steam again for 1 to 2 hours depending on size.

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. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

  5. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 steams.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when steamed.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquids and give the pudding its body.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the pudding.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour and helps preserve the pudding.

The step that matters

Knead in the liquids until compact. The mixture should be moist enough to hold together but not wet, since the bread crumbs absorb liquid as they sit. Adding cream only if it is too dry keeps the texture even, and a compact mixture steams into a firm, sliceable pudding rather than a crumbly or soggy one.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, brandy, lemon, orange, almond, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, brandy, lemon, orange, almond, cinnamon. 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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