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Dessert

Christmas Plum-pudding

A steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, mixed peel, bread crumbs, suet, eggs, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Christmas Plum-pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ingredients

  1. Stone and cut the raisins in halves, but do not chop them.

  2. Pick and dry the currants.

  3. Mince the suet finely.

  4. Cut the mixed peel into thin slices.

  5. Grate the bread into fine crumbs.

Make the mixture

  1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

  2. Moisten the mixture with the beaten eggs and brandy.

  3. Stir well to blend thoroughly.

  4. Press the pudding mixture into a buttered mold.

  5. Cover tightly with a floured cloth.

Boil the pudding

  1. Boil for 5 to 6 hours in a pot.

  2. Alternatively, boil without a mold for the same time.

  3. Hang the pudding up to drain.

  4. Place a plate underneath the hanging pudding.

  5. Plunge the pudding into boiling water.

  6. Boil for at least 2 hours.

  7. Turn it out of the mold.

Serve

  1. Serve with brandy sauce.

  2. Place a sprig of holly on top.

  3. Pour brandy over the holly.

  4. Light the brandy just before serving.

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. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  5. Bread + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together976 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquid and give the pudding its body.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender during cooking.
Raisins
Add sweetness and a chewy texture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour and moistens the mixture.

The step that matters

Keeping the pudding submerged in a steady boil. Water must stay at a steady boil and cover the pudding throughout. If the water drops off the boil or the pudding rises out, heat transfer slows and the pudding cooks unevenly.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Red currantfits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raspberryfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against currant, bread, egg, brandy. 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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