Name: Buckeye Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 cup seeded raisins mixed; 1 egg; 1 scant teaspoon soda

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

1 cup flour
1 cup seeded raisins mixed
1 egg
1 scant teaspoon soda

Directions

Make the batter

Beat 1 egg with 1 cup molasses and 1 cup cold water.
Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup seeded raisins mixed with the flour, 1 scant teaspoon soda, a little cinnamon, and salt.

Steam and set

Steam for 2 hours.
Let it set.

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 Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + eggtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,556 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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: Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the pudding its body.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps set its structure as it cooks.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses acid to release gas, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
Molasses (in the method): Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture to the pudding.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.

“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.