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Rich Plum Pottage

A savory plum pottage made with French rolls, prunes, raisins, currants, spices, and fortified wine, simmered until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Rich Plum Pottage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Pour the broth over the crumb of the rolls and prunes, then rub through a sieve.

  2. Mix in the raisins, currants, spices, lemon juice, red port, white wine, brandy, lemon peel, and sugar.

Simmer and serve

  1. Simmer the mixture for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  2. Add cochineal to achieve desired color.

  3. Serve in a soup tureen when the consistency is good but not too thick.

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. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

  3. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  4. Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

French rolls
Crumb thickens the broth and gives the pottage its body.
Prunes
Break down during simmering to add body, sweetness and a fruity flavour.
Raisins
Add sweetness and softness as they soften in the simmering liquid.
Red port
Adds sweetness, depth and fruity aroma to the broth.
Veal or beef broth
Provides the liquid base and savoury flavour for the pottage.

The step that matters

Simmering to the right consistency. Starch from the crumb and fruit keeps thickening as the pottage simmers and cools, so it can turn too thick. Removing it at the point the consistency is good but not too thick keeps it pourable.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, currant, lemon, white wine, brandy, sugar):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Blackberryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, currant, lemon, white wine, brandy, sugar. 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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