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Dessert

Brandy Pudding

A layered pudding made with raisins, French roll, ratafias or macaroons, brandy, eggs, milk, sweetener, nutmeg, and lemon rind.

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

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 ↓

Brandy Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Layer the mold

  1. Line a mold with stoned raisins or dried cherries.

  2. Layer with thin slices of French roll.

  3. Add ratafias or macaroons.

  4. Continue layering with fruit, rolls, and cakes until the mold is full.

  5. Sprinkle brandy occasionally.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the eggs and mix them with milk or cream.

  2. Sweeten lightly.

  3. Add nutmeg and lemon rind.

  4. Pour the liquid into the mold.

  5. Allow it to soak into the solid ingredients.

Boil and serve

  1. Cover tightly with a cloth.

  2. Boil for 1 hour.

  3. Keep the mold right side up.

  4. Serve with pudding 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard so the pudding holds together when boiled and sliced.
Milk or cream
Supplies the liquid that soaks the bread and cakes and gives a tender texture.
French roll
Forms the absorbent body that soaks up the custard and brandy.
Ratafias or macaroons
Adds almond-like flavour and a soft, moist crumb within the layers.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour that permeates the soaked layers.
Raisins or dried cherries
Adds concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Allow it to soak into the solid ingredients. The bread and cakes must absorb the custard fully before boiling. Dry pockets will not set evenly and can leave the pudding crumbly or patchy in texture.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Currantfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, brandy, egg, milk, nutmeg. 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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