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 ↓
English Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Combine suet, flour, salt, raisins, milk or cider, and molasses in a large bowl.
Dissolve baking soda in the molasses and mix it into the batter.
Pour the mixture into a pudding mold.
Steam for 3 hours until cooked through.
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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Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Suet
- Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it steams.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together once cooked.
- Molasses
- Adds dark sweetness and moisture, and reacts with the baking soda to aid rising.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Milk or cider
- Hydrates the flour and binds the batter into a pourable mixture.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the molasses. Baking soda needs an acid to activate and release carbon dioxide. Dissolving it fully in the molasses, which is acidic, spreads the reaction evenly through the batter so the pudding rises uniformly rather than developing dense or uneven pockets.
“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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