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The Good Daughter’s Mincemeat Pudding

A layered French roll and mincemeat custard baked until firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

The Good Daughter’s Mincemeat Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the layers

  1. Slice the French roll thinly and spread with butter.

  2. Layer the slices in a deep tart dish.

  3. Cover the slices with a thick layer of mincemeat.

  4. Add a second layer of roll slices.

  5. Add more mincemeat.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or cream, salt, and sugar.

  2. Pour the custard gently over the layered mincemeat.

Soak and bake

  1. Let the pudding soak for 1 hour.

  2. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven until firm in the center, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

French roll
Forms the absorbent base layers that soak up the custard and hold the pudding together.
Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable texture.
Milk or thin cream
Provides the liquid that combines with the eggs to form a soft, moist custard.
Mincemeat
Adds sweetness, moisture and spiced fruit flavour between the bread layers.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the bread, helping it brown lightly and taste rich.

The step that matters

Pour the custard gently over the layered mincemeat. Pouring gently lets the custard seep down through the bread and mincemeat rather than washing the layers apart. The soaking hour lets the bread absorb the liquid before baking, so the custard sets evenly.

“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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