Name: Geaham Pudding
Ingredients: half cups of graham flour; 1 cup of molasses; 1 cup sweet milk; 1 cup of raisins; 2 teaspoons of soda; half cup of butter; 1 cup of sugar; nutmeg

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 ↓

Geaham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

Combine two and a half cups of graham flour, one cup molasses, one cup sweet milk, one cup raisins, two teaspoons soda, and a little salt.
Steam the mixture for two hours.

Serve

Serve the pudding warm.

Make the sauces

For hard sauce: Stir one and a half cups butter and one cup sugar to a cream; add the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth; flavor with vanilla; grate a little nutmeg over the top.
For soft sauce: Use the same method as hard sauce but use a whole egg and add boiling water until it reaches the right consistency.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

887Calories

22 gProtein

22 gFat

152 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12

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

By Ithaca (N.Y.) First Baptist Church. Ladies Union. 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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Graham flour: Forms the bulk of the pudding, giving it a hearty, structured crumb.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep, dark flavor to the pudding.
Sweet milk: Moistens the flour so the batter forms a soft, pourable mixture.
Soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to help the pudding rise and lighten.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the hard sauce.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, molasses, milk, raisin, butter, sugar):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegthe original
Gingerfits less well
Clovefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, milk, raisin, butter, sugar. 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.