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Dessert

Paradise Pudding

A steamed pudding made with sago, breadcrumbs, sugar, lemon, sultanas, apples, cinnamon, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Paradise Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the sago in hot water over the fire until softened.

  2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Steam and serve

  1. Turn the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

  2. Steam the pudding for 2 hours.

  3. Serve with 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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Lemon + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Sago
Swells when soaked in hot water, giving the pudding its body and soft, tender texture.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk, helping the pudding hold together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during steaming to give the pudding structure.
Apples
Add moisture and a tender, fruity body as they soften during steaming.
Sultanas
Add sweetness and chewy pockets of fruit throughout the pudding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples and lemon.

The step that matters

Steam the pudding for 2 hours. Gentle, steady steam cooks the beaten eggs and starch slowly into a set, moist pudding. Steam that drops too low can leave the centre wet and underset, while the mold must be well buttered so the pudding releases cleanly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, cinnamon, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, cinnamon, egg. 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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