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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made from grated bread, eggs, suet, molasses, raisins, currants, spices, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Grate the bread into a large bowl.

  2. In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sugar until well combined.

  3. Add the chopped suet, molasses, raisins, currants, citron, spices, brandy, and wine to the egg mixture.

  4. Mix well and add a speck of baking soda to counteract the molasses.

  5. Dust the suet with a little flour to prevent sticking.

Fill and boil

  1. Pour the mixture into two 2-quart melon molds.

  2. Cover the molds tightly with cloth to prevent water from soaking in.

  3. Boil in a pot for 6 hours.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 give the pudding its set structure as they cook.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and moisture, along with a deep flavor.
Baking soda
Neutralizes the acidity of the molasses so the pudding rises and browns more evenly.
Bread
Provides body and absorbs the liquids to give the pudding its soft crumb.
Raisins
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and moisture to the pudding.

The step that matters

Covering the molds tightly with cloth. A tight cover keeps boiling water from seeping into the pudding and making it soggy or diluting its flavor during the long steam cook.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, sugar, molasses, raisin, clove, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, sugar, molasses, raisin, clove, 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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