Why it works: Beef and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.
Add the chopped suet and pour in the milk to form a soft dough.
Steam
Grease a mold or several cups and fill them to within an inch of the top.
Cover with greased paper.
Steam for 2 hours if using a mold, or 1 hour if using cups.
Serve
Turn out onto a hot platter and serve with lemon or wine 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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Beef + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the pudding as the dough sets during steaming.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the moist batter, helping the pudding rise and turn light.
- Beef suet
- Adds richness and moistness, since its fat stays solid in the dough and melts during steaming.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a soft dough and adds moisture.
The step that matters
Steam for the stated time without lifting the cover. Steam keeps the pudding moist and cooks it evenly. Lifting the cover or letting the water drop lets cool air in, which can leave the pudding dense and uneven.
“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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