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Dessert

English Plum Pudding

A boiled pudding made with currants, raisins, citron, bread crumbs, suet, almonds, sugar, baking soda, eggs, milk, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the currants, raisins, citron, bread crumbs, suet, and almonds in a large bowl.

  2. Add the sugar and baking soda, then mix thoroughly.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk and brandy.

  4. Combine the egg mixture with the dry ingredients and mix well.

  5. Fold in the egg whites last.

  6. Prepare the pudding the night before serving.

Cook and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a pudding cloth or mold and boil for 4 to 5 hours.

  2. Serve with wine 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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  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

Eggs
Bind the mixture and add structure and richness as they set during boiling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquids and give the pudding its body and soft texture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Currants
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout the pudding.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout the pudding.
Baking soda
Helps the pudding rise and lighten slightly as it cooks.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, bread, almond, sugar, egg, milk, 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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