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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with figs, suet, bread crumbs, brown sugar, spices, baking powder, egg, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the figs overnight.

  2. Cut the figs into small pieces.

Mix

  1. In a bowl, combine the figs, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, spices, and baking powder.

  2. Mix to a stiff paste with the egg and enough milk to combine.

Steam and serve

  1. Grease a large mold and fill it with the mixture.

  2. Cover with buttered paper and steam for four hours.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Fig + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together208 recipes

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

  4. Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Add moisture and sweetness, and a soft, jammy body to the pudding.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it steams.
Bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and structure that hold the pudding together.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavour.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the pudding and helps it rise.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps set it into a cohesive pudding.

The step that matters

Mix to a stiff paste with the egg and enough milk. The balance of crumbs and liquid sets the texture. Too little milk leaves the pudding crumbly and dry, while too much makes it heavy and slack, so add milk gradually until the mixture just holds together.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

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

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