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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with suet, figs, bread crumbs, eggs, brown sugar, baking powder, and apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. In a large bowl, combine the suet, chopped figs, bread crumbs, eggs, brown sugar, baking powder, and chopped apples. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a pudding mold or heatproof dish.

Cook

  1. Boil or steam for 3 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. Fig + appletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together238 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Bread + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set as it cooks, giving the pudding structure.
Bread crumbs
Soak up moisture and give the pudding a soft, tender body.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the batter and helps it rise.
Figs
Provide natural sweetness and a jammy, chewy texture.

The step that matters

Boil or steam for 3 hours until cooked through. Steady, gentle heat cooks the eggs and crumbs through without drying or toughening the pudding. Keep the water simmering and topped up so the pudding cooks evenly for the full time.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Datesfits better
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

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

More fig pudding recipes

Steamed 14Sauce 7English 3 See all 340 →

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