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Dessert

Victoria Pudding

A steamed suet pudding with apples, apricot jam, mixed peel, cherries, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓

Victoria Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the chopped apples with the suet, bread crumbs, flour, mixed peel, cherries, and sugar.

  2. In another bowl, beat the eggs well, then add the apricot jam, cream, and brandy.

  3. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold, cover with buttered paper, and steam for 1 to 2 hours.

  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. Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together777 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).

  2. Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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 add structure as they set during steaming.
Suet
Adds richness and a tender, moist crumb as it melts into the batter.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding a light, soft body.
Flour
Provides structure so the steamed pudding holds its shape when turned out.
Apricot jam
Adds sweetness, fruity flavour, and moisture to the batter.

The step that matters

Steam and serve. Steaming gently and keeping the mold covered lets the pudding cook evenly with steady moisture. Too little water or heat can leave it dense or dry, so check the steamer throughout the 1 to 2 hours.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, flour, apricot, sugar, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, flour, apricot, sugar, egg, brandy. 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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