Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 5 eggs; 1 pound figs, chopped fine; 1 pound bread crumbs; 1 pound brown sugar; ½ pound suet; ½ pound candied lemon peel; ½ pound citron; 1 nutmeg

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Put the mixture into a mold.

Cook

Boil or steam for four hours.

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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together510 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together763 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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 help it set as it cooks.
Bread crumbs: Provide bulk and soak up moisture to give the pudding body.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Figs: Supply the main flavour and natural sweetness, plus soft texture.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and a molasses flavour that deepens the pudding.