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Dessert

Another Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made from figs, suet, sugar, bread crumbs, flour, eggs, milk, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Another Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the figs and suet very finely.

  2. In a basin, combine the chopped figs, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, flour, grated nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Mix in the eggs and about 1 tablespoon of milk.

Steam

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-greased basin and steam for 3 hours.

  2. For smaller portions, use well-greased molds and steam for 1 hour.

  3. Stand the molds in a saucepan with enough water to come halfway up the sides.

  4. Cover with greased paper and ensure the saucepan lid fits tightly.

  5. Keep the water boiling throughout the steaming process.

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. Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together510 recipes

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

  2. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. 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

Dried figs
Provide the main sweetness, moisture and fruity flavour of the pudding.
Suet
Adds richness and fat, keeping the pudding moist and tender during steaming.
Bread crumbs
Give body and soft structure, absorbing moisture from the figs and suet.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, cohesive pudding.
Flour
Adds structure, helping the pudding hold its shape after steaming.

The step that matters

Keep the water boiling throughout the steaming process.. Steaming relies on steady heat from boiling water. If the water drops and stops simmering, the pudding cooks unevenly and becomes heavy or undercooked in the centre.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figthe original
  4. Lemonfits less well

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