Why it works: Fig and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Fig Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil a large saucepan of water.
Chop the suet finely after removing the skin.
Finely chop the dried figs.
Rub the bread through a sieve to get ½ lb of bread crumbs.
Make the mixture
In a basin, combine the flour, chopped suet, and salt.
Rub the suet into the flour until no lumps remain.
Add the bread crumbs, figs, moist sugar, and grated nutmeg; mix well.
In a separate basin, beat the eggs and add the milk; stir into the mixture.
Boil and serve
Lay a pudding cloth in a basin.
Sprinkle the cloth with flour.
Transfer the mixture to the center of the cloth.
Tie the cloth securely with string.
Boil the pudding in the cloth for about three and a half hours.
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.
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Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together510 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fig + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,026 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Fig + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together374 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Suet
- Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender, moist crumb as it melts during boiling.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help give the pudding structure as they set with heat.
- Bread crumbs
- Add body and absorb moisture, giving the pudding a light, soft texture.
- Dried figs
- Provide the main fruit flavour and sweetness, plus chewy pieces throughout the pudding.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and its molasses notes deepen the flavour.
- Flour
- Gives the pudding its basic structure as it cooks and sets.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth securely. If the cloth is loose, water can seep into the pudding during the long boil and make it soggy. Leave room for the pudding to swell, since it expands as it cooks.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, bread, flour, egg, milk, nutmeg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figthe original
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, bread, flour, 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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