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Dessert

Victoria Pudding

A steamed pudding made with apples, suet, bread crumbs, flour, dried fruit, jam, eggs, brandy, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓

Victoria Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the chopped apples, suet, bread crumbs, flour, mixed peel, cherries, and sugar.

  2. In another bowl, beat the eggs well, then add the jam, cream, and brandy; mix thoroughly.

  3. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry mixture and beat well until fully combined.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well‑buttered mold and cover with buttered paper.

  2. Steam for 1½ to 2 hours.

  3. Serve with a suitable 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. Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together777 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).

  2. Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + eggtop 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 add structure as the pudding sets during steaming.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Bread crumbs
Soak up liquid and give the pudding a light, tender body.
Flour
Provides structure that holds the pudding together once steamed.
Apricot jam
Adds sweetness, moisture and fruity flavour.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour depth to the pudding.

The step that matters

Steam for 1½ to 2 hours. Steaming gently and for the full time cooks the eggs and flour through, setting the pudding without drying it. Lifting the lid too often or letting the water boil dry can leave the pudding uneven or underdone.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, flour, apricot, sugar, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, flour, apricot, sugar, egg, 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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