Name: Suet Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped raisins; 3 cups of flour; 4 tablespoons sugar; 2 eggs

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 ↓

Suet Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup chopped raisins
3 cups of flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs

Directions

Make the pudding

Combine 1 cup chopped raisins, 1 cup suet chopped fine, 1 cup molasses, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon spices of all kinds, and 3 cups flour, stirring in the order named.
Steam the mixture for three hours.

Make the topping and serve

Beat 2 eggs, using only the whites, add 4 tablespoons sugar, and flavor with vanilla.
Serve the pudding with the beaten egg white mixture.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

644Calories

20 gProtein

7 gFat

124 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
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.

By Hatfield (Mass.). Congregational Church. 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 + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
Suet (in the method): Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Molasses (in the method): Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark color.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Soda (in the method): Reacts with the acidity of the molasses to lighten the batter.
Eggs: Whites are beaten to make a light, airy topping for serving.