Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 1 lb figs, chopped; 2 eggs, beaten; 1 cup bread crumbs; ½ cup milk; 2 oz butter; 2 oz flour; 2 oz sugar

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

Chop the figs into very small pieces and mix with the butter.
Add the bread crumbs, flour, and sugar to the fig mixture.
Stir in the beaten eggs and a little milk until combined.

Cook and serve

Pour the mixture into a buttered mold and boil for three hours.
Serve with sweet 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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,026 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together374 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs: Provide the main body, moisture and sweet fruit flavour of the pudding.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it cooks.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the pudding a soft, cake-like body.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture.
Flour: Adds structure so the pudding holds its shape after cooking.

Swap the fig

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits about as well
Figthe original
Peachfits less well

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