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Dessert

Plum-pudding

A traditional British dessert made with suet, flour, raisins, currants, spices, eggs, milk, wine or spirits, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plum-pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine suet, flour, raisins, currants, allspice, and nutmeg or cinnamon.

  2. Add the beaten eggs and milk, then mix in the wine or spirits, salt, and sugar. Mix the ingredients vigorously and let sit overnight, if possible.

Cook

  1. Tie the mixture firmly in a cloth and boil for at least 4 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. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the dense mixture together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
Currants
Add sweetness and concentrated fruit flavor throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Tie the mixture firmly in a cloth. A loose cloth lets water seep in during the long boil, making the pudding soggy and loose. A snug wrap keeps it compact so it holds its shape and cooks evenly.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, allspice, nutmeg, egg, milk, wine):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, allspice, nutmeg, egg, milk, wine. 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.

More plum pudding recipes

English 165Christmas 156Sauce 71Eggless 34Baked 33Vegetable 19 See all 649 →

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