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Devonshire White Puddings

A steamed pudding made from pork fat, currants, bread, clotted cream, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Devonshire White Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the pudding

  1. In a bowl, combine the shredded pork fat, cleaned currants, grated bread, clotted cream, and sugar.

  2. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

  3. Transfer the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for about 2 hours until set.

  2. Let cool slightly before serving.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

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

  3. Pork + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Currant + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Bread + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork fat
Provides richness and moisture, and melts to give the pudding its tender texture.
Grated bread
Forms the body of the pudding and soaks up fat and cream to hold its shape.
Clotted cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the pudding softer and richer.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the fat.
Currants
Add sweet, chewy fruit pieces throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Steam until set. Steaming gently heats the mixture so the bread and fat bind and firm up without drying out. Too little time leaves it loose, and overheating can make it tough or crumbly.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, bread, cream, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, bread, cream, sugar. 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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