Name: Thanksgiving Pudding
Ingredients: 1 teaspoonful baking powder; 1 cup scalded milk; 1 cup raisins; 1/2 cup of finely chopped dates; 1/2 cup finely chopped suet; 1 teaspoonful cinnamon; 11/2 teaspoonfuls of salt; 2 tablespoonfuls each of brandy; 5 eggs

Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Thanksgiving Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

1 teaspoonful baking
powder. % cup flour. iy2 cups of soft bread
1 cup raisins. ya cup of currants. 1/2 cup of finely chopped
% cup finely chopped citron. 1/2 cup finely chopped suet. The grated rind of a small
i/> cup chopped walnuts. y2 nutmeg.
2 tablespoonfuls each of
brandy and sherry.
Pour the hot milk over the crumbs. Mix in the order given. Steam in a buttered mould six hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

816Calories

28 gProtein

15 gFat

144 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Dates	1 date (24g) medjool	66
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Brandy	not in our table	0

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

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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.

Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Dates + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together283 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Raisin + datestop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together358 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, raisin, cinnamon, brandy, egg):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Applefits better
Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, raisin, cinnamon, brandy, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.