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Dessert

Plum Pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, sultanas, currants, citron, suet, molasses, sugar, spices, eggs, bread, flour, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the raisins, sultanas, currants, and citron.

  2. Add the beef suet, molasses, brown sugar, spices, and beaten eggs. Mix well.

  3. Stir in the crumbled bread and enough flour to make a stiff batter.

  4. Finally, fold in the baking powder until evenly distributed.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold and steam for several hours until cooked through.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during steaming.
Beef suet
Adds fat and richness, keeping the pudding moist and tender.
Bread
Absorbs liquid and gives the pudding a soft, crumbly body.
Flour
Thickens the batter so it holds its shape in the mold.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the pudding as it heats.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep, rich flavor.

The step that matters

Stirring in the flour to a stiff batter. Too little flour leaves a loose batter that can collapse or turn soggy when steamed; the batter must be thick enough to hold its shape in the mold.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, beef, molasses, sugar, clove, allspice, ginger):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, beef, molasses, sugar, clove, allspice, ginger. 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.

More plum pudding recipes

English 165Christmas 156Sauce 71Eggless 34Baked 33Vegetable 19 See all 649 →

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