Why it works: Plum and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 168 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Boiled Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare stout cloths by buttering and flouring them.
Mix the plum-pudding ingredients, adding a little salt to enhance flavor.
If using, stir in brandy or wine and lemon juice gradually to avoid curdling.
Tie the mixture tightly in the prepared cloths.
Boil in plenty of water, ensuring it remains boiling throughout the cooking process.
Serve immediately after boiling, allowing steam to escape from the top.
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.
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Plum + brandytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together168 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Plum + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together623 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + plumtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together710 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, plum, brandy):
- Apricotfits better
- Peachfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, plum, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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