Skip to main content
Dessert

Marrow Pudding

A baked pudding made with beef marrow, breadcrumbs, sugar, candied peel, cherries, brandy or sherry, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Brandy and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,340 recipes. Both carry acetoin, which smells butter, cream. The science ↓

Marrow Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream the egg yolks and sugar together until thick and smooth.

  3. Add the marrow, breadcrumbs, candied peel, and chopped cherries to the mixture, then mix well.

  4. Whisk the egg whites to a stiff froth and gently fold them into the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Turn the mixture into a well-buttered mold and bake for about 1 hour.

  2. Serve with a suitable 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. Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  2. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Beef + brandytop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,000 recipes

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

  5. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the pudding, while whipped whites lighten its texture as it bakes.
Beef marrow
Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a moist, tender crumb.
Breadcrumbs
Provide body and absorb moisture, helping the pudding hold its shape.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps create a smooth, creamed base with the yolks.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites must be whisked to a stiff froth and folded in gently. Overmixing deflates the air they hold, leaving a denser pudding after baking.

“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.

You might also like

Brandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipesBrandy CreamBrandy Cream21 recipesBrandy PuddingBrandy Pudding13 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes