Name: Gingerbread Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 cup bread crumbs; 1 cup suet; 1 or 2 eggs; 4 tablespoons treacle; 1 tablespoon ground ginger

Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Gingerbread Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

In a bowl, combine flour, bread crumbs, suet, eggs, treacle, and ground ginger. Mix until well combined.
Shape the mixture into a pudding shape.

Cook and serve

Boil the pudding until cooked through.
Serve with custard and a glass of sherry.

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.

Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Bread + gingertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together565 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + breadtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,383 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Flour: Provides the body that holds the pudding together once shaped and cooked.
Bread crumbs: Add bulk and soak up moisture, giving the pudding a tender, light crumb.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich during boiling.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set as it cooks, giving structure.
Treacle: Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich, molasses-like flavour.
Ground ginger: Provides the warm, spiced aroma that defines the gingerbread character.