Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding No. 2
Ingredients
Directions
Mix and fill the mold
In a large bowl, mix the molasses, dried currants, sweet milk, flour, suet (or butter), baking soda, and raisins until well combined, then add salt and spice to taste.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam and serve
Steam for 2 hours.
Ensure the pudding is thoroughly cooked before serving.
Serve with a liquid sauce.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the pudding its body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that makes the pudding rich and tender as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and flavor of the pudding.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in molasses to release gas that lightens the batter.
- Sweet milk
- Adds liquid that hydrates the flour and keeps the pudding moist.
The step that matters
Steam for 2 hours. Steaming cooks the pudding gently and evenly, so the batter sets through without drying out. If the steam drops or the pudding is undercooked, the center stays wet and dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, flour, butter, raisin):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, flour, butter, raisin. 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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