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Dessert

Brighton Pudding

A steamed pudding made with wheaten meal, breadcrumbs, suet, raisins, carrot, and golden syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Brighton Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, mix the wheaten meal, breadcrumbs, suet, brown sugar, salt, dessert raisins, golden syrup, grated carrot, and candied peel.

  2. Add enough milk or water to form a batter.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam for 4 hours.

  3. Serve with white 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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  4. Raisin + carrottop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together174 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together336 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds richness and a moist, tender texture as it melts during steaming.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the pudding a light, soft body.
Wheaten meal
Provides the main body and structure of the pudding.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavour.
Golden syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, helping the pudding stay tender.

The step that matters

Steam for 4 hours. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the batter through without drying it out. The pot must keep boiling water topped up, because a low or dry pot lets the pudding dry out and cook unevenly.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, raisin, syrup, milk):

  1. Sweet potatofits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin, syrup, 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.

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