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Dessert

4-plum Pudding

A suet-based plum pudding with currants, raisins, eggs, nutmeg, bread crumbs, orange peel, citron, brandy, and milk, boiled for six hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

4-plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the suet, but not too fine.

  2. Wash the currants and raisins clean and stone them.

  3. Beat the eggs well.

  4. Grate the nutmeg and chop the orange peel and citron.

  5. Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Mix and boil

  1. Add the milk, beaten eggs, and brandy to the dry mixture.

  2. Blend the ingredients well and put the pudding into a mold.

  3. Tie a floured cloth over the mold and boil it 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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + orangetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (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 melts during boiling, keeping the pudding moist and rich.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and give it structure as the pudding sets.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquids and give the pudding body and a soft crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps the batter combine into a smooth mixture.
Currants and raisins
Provide sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Tie a floured cloth over the mold and boil it for 6 hours. The cloth must be sealed tightly so water cannot enter, and the pudding must boil steadily for the full time so it cooks through and sets firmly.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (currant, raisin, egg, nutmeg, bread, brandy, milk):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against currant, raisin, egg, nutmeg, bread, brandy, milk. 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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