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Dessert

A Rich Plum Pudding

A rich plum pudding made with eggs, flour, suet, plums, currants, candied peel, almonds, brandy, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

A Rich Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, flour, salt, nutmeg, ginger or cinnamon, mace, and suet or marrow until well combined.

  2. Add the plums, currants, candied peel, and almonds, and mix thoroughly.

  3. Stir in the brandy and powdered sugar until the mixture reaches a thick batter consistency.

  4. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water.

Boil and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered basin or mold, or wrap it in a cloth.

  2. Boil for 4 hours or more.

  3. Once cooked, sprinkle with sifted sugar and garnish with sliced lemon.

  4. Serve with wine or lemon 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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Ginger + plumtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Plum + curranttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together255 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and give the pudding its set structure as they cook.
Fine flour
Forms the body of the pudding, giving it structure once boiled.
Beef suet or marrow
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Plums
Contribute moisture and fruity sweetness throughout the pudding.
Currants
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the batter.
Brandy
Adds aroma and a warming flavor that carries through the boiled pudding.

The step that matters

Boil for 4 hours or more. A long, steady boil cooks the eggs and flour through and sets the dense batter. Too short a boil leaves the centre wet and heavy, and the pudding can crack or go soggy if the water is not kept simmering.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, nutmeg, ginger, mace, beef, plum):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, nutmeg, ginger, mace, beef, plum. 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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