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Steak and Kidney Pudding

A savory pudding made from beefsteak, bacon, kidneys, onions, and spices, encased in suet and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Steak and Kidney Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Sprinkle beefsteak slices with salt, pepper, onion, and parsley.

  2. Place a slice of bacon on some beef pieces.

  3. Place a slice of kidney on other beef pieces.

  4. Roll the meat tightly.

  5. Dust the rolls with flour.

Make the suet paste

  1. Mix suet with flour until lump‑free.

  2. Add salt and baking powder.

  3. Add enough cold water to form a soft paste.

  4. Roll it out to ⅓ inch thickness.

Assemble and boil

  1. Line a buttered bowl with suet paste.

  2. Pack the meat rolls inside.

  3. Pour in the water.

  4. Cover the pudding with paste.

  5. Moisten and press the edges together.

  6. Tie the bowl in a floured cloth.

  7. Boil the pudding steadily for 4 hours.

  8. Use as needed.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 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

Beefsteak
Forms the main meat filling and becomes tender during long, gentle boiling.
Kidneys
Adds a rich, savoury flavour to the meat filling.
Bacon
Adds salty, fatty flavour that seasons the meat as it cooks.
Suet
Provides fat that makes the paste rich and tender when cooked.
Flour
Gives the suet paste structure so it holds its shape while boiling.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the suet paste as it cooks.

The step that matters

Press the pudding edges together and tie the cloth firmly. A poor seal lets water seep into the pudding during long boiling, making the crust soggy and the filling watery. A tight seal and a secure cloth keep the steam and juices inside.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, parsley, flour):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, parsley, 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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