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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with figs, bread crumbs, suet, eggs, sugar, flour, milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and fig match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients together until well combined.

  2. Steam the mixture for 3½ hours.

  3. Serve with sweet sauce or custard.

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 + figtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together238 recipes

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

  2. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + figtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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 into a firm, sliceable pudding as it steams.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and body that hold the pudding together.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the pudding and helps it rise.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deeper, molasses-like flavour.

The step that matters

Steam the mixture for 3½ hours. Steaming gently heats the pudding through without drying it out. The pudding needs a steady, long simmer so the egg and starch set fully and the suet melts evenly. Letting the water boil dry or drop too low can leave the pudding dense or undercooked in the centre.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, flour, sugar, fig, milk):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, flour, sugar, fig, milk. 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.

More fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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