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Dessert

Brandy Pudding

A layered pudding made with raisins, cherries, French roll, macaroons, brandy, eggs, milk, nutmeg, and lemon rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Brandy Pudding

Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Brandy Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Layer the mold

  1. Line a mold with stoned jar-raisins or dried cherries.

  2. Add a layer of thin slices of French roll, followed by ratafias or macaroons.

  3. Continue layering with fruit, rolls, and cakes until the mold is full, sprinkling in ⅓ cup of brandy at intervals.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the eggs (yolks and whites) and mix with the milk or cream, nutmeg, and lemon rind.

  2. Pour the liquid mixture over the solid layers and let it soak.

Boil and serve

  1. Cover the mold with a cloth and tie the cloth tightly over the mold.

  2. Boil the mold for 1 hour.

  3. Keep the mold right side up.

  4. Serve with pudding 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard so the layers hold together when turned out.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and body, forming the custard that soaks the layers.
French roll
Soaks up the custard and gives the pudding its soft, bready body.
Ratafias or macaroons
Absorb the liquid and add a crumbly, almond-like texture between layers.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour and moistens the layers as it soaks in.
Stoned jar-raisins or dried cherries
Add sweetness and concentrated fruit flavour to the layers.

The step that matters

Tie the cloth tightly over the mold. The pudding is cooked by steam and boiling water, so a snug, well-tied cover keeps water out and the moisture in. A loose cloth lets water seep in and makes the pudding soggy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, brandy, egg, milk, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Currantfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, brandy, egg, milk, nutmeg. 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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