Name: Cherry Pudding
Ingredients: 3 cups flour; 2 cups fruit; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup milk; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup suet

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cherry Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Mix the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and suet in a bowl.
Add the molasses, milk, and fruit, and mix well.

Cook

Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Boil for 3.5 hours.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,408 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, 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

Flour: Forms the main structure of the pudding as it cooks.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and a dark colour and rich flavour.
Milk: Adds moisture and helps the dry ingredients combine into a batter.
Cream of tartar: Provides acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the pudding rise.
Baking soda: Releases gas with the acid in the batter, helping it rise and lighten.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.

“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.