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Dessert

Fig Pudding

A steamed pudding made with figs, bread crumbs, hickory nuts, suet, sour milk, molasses, eggs, flour, baking soda, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped figs, bread crumbs, hickory nut meats, suet, sour milk, molasses, eggs, flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Steam

  1. Cover the mold with a lid or foil. Steam for 3 hours.

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 + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Fig + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Provide the main body, sweetness and moist, chewy texture of the pudding.
Bread crumbs
Add bulk and absorb liquid, helping the pudding hold a soft, tender crumb.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets.
Flour
Gives the pudding its structure so it holds together after steaming.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to lighten the batter.

The step that matters

Covering the mold before steaming. A tight lid or foil traps steam around the pudding so it cooks gently and stays moist. If the mold is left open, steam escapes, the surface dries out, and the pudding can cook unevenly.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, meat, milk, molasses, egg, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Vanillafits about as well
  4. Datesfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, meat, milk, molasses, egg, flour. 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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