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Fig Pudding

A pudding made from dried figs, breadcrumbs, suet, eggs, and sugar, boiled for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,241 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the figs

  1. Soak the dried figs in hot water for about 10 minutes until soft.

  2. Strain the water and chop the figs very finely.

Make the pudding

  1. Mix the chopped figs with the suet, breadcrumbs, and sugar until well combined.

  2. Add the two eggs, beaten until very light, and mix thoroughly.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

Boil and serve

  1. Boil in a pot for 4 to 5 hours.

  2. Serve with melted wine sauce.

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. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Fig + beeftop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Fig + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,406 recipes

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

  5. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried figs
Provide sweetness, moisture and the main flavour of the pudding.
Breadcrumbs
Give body and absorb moisture so the pudding holds together.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set as it cooks, giving structure.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the rich suet.

The step that matters

Boiling for 4 to 5 hours. The long, steady boil slowly cooks the eggs and breadcrumbs through so the pudding sets firm and moist. A shorter boil leaves the centre wet and dense, so the full time matters.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonfits about as well
  4. Figthe original

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