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Dessert

Date Pudding

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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.

Mix the batter

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

  2. In another bowl, combine the milk, molasses, and melted butter.

  3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam the pudding for about 1.5 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Dates + cinnamontop 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 structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Dates
Add moisture and natural sweetness, so the pudding stays soft and rich.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep flavor, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Milk
Adds liquid that hydrates the flour and keeps the batter moist.

The step that matters

Steaming the pudding for the full time. Steam is gentle, moist heat that cooks the dense batter evenly without drying it. Stopping early leaves the center wet and heavy, so test with a toothpick before removing the pudding.

Swap the dates

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

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

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