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Dessert

Date Pudding

A steamed pudding made with flour, spices, molasses, milk, butter, dates, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Date Pudding

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.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

  2. Add the molasses, milk, and melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix well.

  3. Fold in the chopped dates.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add it to the mixture.

Steam

  1. Pour the batter into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam the pudding for about 1 hour or until set.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + datestop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together283 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  5. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness to the pudding.
Dates
Add moisture and natural sweetness, giving the pudding a soft, chewy texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved in the boiling water before it goes into the batter, so it mixes evenly. Clumps can leave bitter, unevenly raised spots, and the reaction with the molasses's acid is what lightens the pudding.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, molasses, milk, butter):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, molasses, milk, butter. 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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