Name: Steamed Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 10 soda crackers, finely rolled; ½ pound dried figs, chopped; 1 cup beef suet, finely chopped; 1 cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon nutmeg; 2 tablespoons brandy

Why it works: Fig and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Steamed Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

Combine the soda crackers, dried figs, beef suet, brown sugar, eggs, baking soda, nutmeg, and brandy in a mixing bowl and mix well until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Transfer the mixture to a pudding mold or heatproof dish.

Steam

Steam for 4 hours until cooked through.

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.

Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together510 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Fig + brandytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together222 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,311 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,241 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Beef + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,495 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the mixture and help set the pudding as it cooks.
Baking soda: Reacts with the mixture to lift and lighten the pudding's texture.
Soda crackers: Crumbs add body and help bind the dense mixture together.
Dried figs: Provide the main fruit flavour and chewy, moist texture.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and a molasses note that deepens the flavour.

The step that matters

Steam for the full time. Steaming gently and for the full time lets the eggs set and the suet and figs soften through the whole pudding. Stopping early leaves the centre dense, wet, or undercooked.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, egg, nutmeg, brandy):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits about as well
Figthe original
Lemonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, egg, nutmeg, 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.

Brandy Peaches68 recipes

Brandy Cream21 recipes

Brandy Pudding13 recipes

White Cake431 recipes

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Steamed Fig Pudding