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Dessert

Buckeye Pudding

Buckeye pudding is a steamed dessert made with molasses, flour, raisins, eggs, and a walnut‑sugar sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Buckeye Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve two-thirds cupful molasses, one-half cupful warm water, and one-half teaspoonful soda.

  2. Add one and one-half cupfuls flour, yolks of two eggs, and one cupful chopped raisins to the mixture.

Steam

  1. Steam the batter for two hours.

Make the sauce

  1. For the sauce, combine one cupful pulverized sugar, one-half cupful butter, whites of two eggs, and one tablespoonful hot water.

  2. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the hot water, the whites of two well‑beaten eggs, and chopped walnuts.

Serve

  1. Serve the pudding just warm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

804Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
139 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 structure that holds the steamed pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and deep sweetness to the pudding.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses to help the batter rise and lighten.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the sauce, making it smooth and creamy.
Raisins
Add pockets of sweetness and extra moisture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Steaming the batter for two hours. Steam keeps the batter moist while it sets. If the water in the pot runs low or the steam is uneven, the pudding can dry out or turn dense and heavy, so the steaming should stay steady for the full time.

“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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