Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Combine one cup chopped suet, one cup bread crumbs, one cup sugar, one cup raisins, one cup flour, one cup sour milk, and one teaspoon soda.
Steam for two hours.
Serve with a lemon sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Sour Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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 + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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
- Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding rich and tender as it steams.
- Soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the soda and adds moisture and a slight tang.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding moist.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy pieces throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steaming for two hours. Steam heats the pudding gently and evenly over a long time, so the water must be kept steadily boiling and topped up. If the heat drops or the pot boils dry, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn dense or gummy.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, flour, milk):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, flour, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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