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Dessert

Brandy Pudding

A layered dessert of fruit, bread, and cake soaked in brandy, topped with a custard mixture, then boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Brandy Pudding

Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Brandy Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Line a mold with dried cherries or raisins.

  2. Add a layer of thinly sliced French roll and a layer of ratafias or macaroons.

  3. Repeat the layers of fruit, rolls, and cakes until the mold is full, pouring in brandy at intervals.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately, then combine with milk or cream, nutmeg, and lemon rind.

  2. Pour the mixture into the mold and let it penetrate the layers.

Boil

  1. Flour a cloth, tie it tightly over the mold, and boil it.

  2. Ensure the mold remains right side up while boiling.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

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

  4. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs set the custard and bind the soaked layers together as it cooks.
French roll
Absorbs the custard and brandy, giving the pudding a soft, bread-based body.
Milk or cream
Supplies liquid that soaks into the layers and makes the custard rich and tender.
Dried cherries or raisins
Adds chewy sweetness and fruit flavour throughout the pudding.
Ratafias or macaroons
Adds almond-like flavour and a dense, moist texture between the bread layers.
Brandy
Adds aroma and warmth, and helps flavour the soaked layers.

The step that matters

Tying and boiling the cloth. The cloth must be floured and tied tightly so steam cannot escape and water cannot enter. Keeping the mold upright keeps the custard level as it sets.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, brandy, egg, milk, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Currantfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, brandy, egg, milk, nutmeg. 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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