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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, dried fruit, spices, and milk.

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 ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

  2. Add the milk, beaten egg yolks, beaten egg whites, and brandy to the dry mixture.

  3. Blend the ingredients well until combined.

Cook

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold and tie a floured cloth over the top.

  2. Boil the pudding 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

Egg yolks and egg whites
Bind the mixture and give the pudding a light, set structure as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquid and give the pudding its body and crumb.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the pudding.

The step that matters

Tie the floured cloth over the mold. The cloth must be sealed snugly so water cannot enter and the pudding steams evenly. A floured cloth also helps form a light skin that keeps the surface from sticking.

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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