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Dessert

Cumberland Pudding

A steamed pudding made with bread crumbs, apples, currants, suet, brown sugar, eggs, brandy, nutmeg, and lemon peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cumberland Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine equal quantities of bread crumbs, chopped apples, currants, and shredded suet in a bowl.

  2. Sweeten the mixture with brown sugar.

  3. Add 3 eggs, a little brandy, grated nutmeg, and lemon peel; mix well.

Boil and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a round mold.

  2. Boil in water for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the pudding.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  4. Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Forms the bulk of the pudding and soaks up moisture for a soft body.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it cooks.
Shredded suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the pudding and adds a molasses-like depth.
Apples
Add moisture and a fresh, tart flavour that lightens the richness.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, apple, sugar, egg, brandy, nutmeg, lemon):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, apple, sugar, egg, brandy, nutmeg, lemon. 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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