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Plum Pudding, with Meat

A steamed plum pudding containing meat, fruit, spices, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plum Pudding, with Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. In a large bowl, mix the prepared calves' feet, apples, currants, raisins, and beef suet.

  2. Add the grated nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, lemon zest, and salt.

  3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, then stir in the grated bread and marrow.

  4. Pour the egg mixture into the fruit and suet mixture, then add the white wine and brandy.

  5. Fold in the sliced almonds, citron, and orange peel until well combined.

Boil the puddings

  1. Divide the mixture into two or four pudding molds.

  2. Boil the puddings for 4 to 8 hours, depending on the size.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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 it set firm as the pudding cooks.
Beef suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding tender as it cooks.
Grated bread
Absorbs liquid and gives the pudding body and a soft crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the egg mixture into a pourable batter.
Currants
Provide concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour, and its alcohol carries spice flavours through the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil the puddings for the full time. Boiling for 4 to 8 hours, depending on size, lets heat reach the centre so the eggs and bread set. Undercooked centres stay wet and loose.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, raisin, beef, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, lemon):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Cranberryfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, raisin, beef, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, lemon. 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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