Name: Apple and Brown Bread Pudding
Ingredients: two cups of boston brown bread crumbs; two cups of apples chopped fine; two tablespoons of flour; a cup of chopped suet; a teaspoon of salt; a cup of raisins dredged; a teaspoon of ginger; a cup of milk; one egg; salt; ginger; mace

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 ↓

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).
Apple + gingertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,424 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Raisin + gingertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,242 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,104 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Boston brown bread crumbs: Form the bulk of the pudding and give it a dense, moist body.
Apples: Add moisture and a fresh, tart flavour that cuts the richness.
Suet: Adds fat that enriches the texture and keeps the pudding moist as it steams.
Raisins: Add pockets of concentrated sweetness; flouring helps keep them spread through the batter.
Egg: Binds the mixture so it holds together after steaming.
Milk: Moistens the dry ingredients so the crumbs soften into a batter.

The step that matters

Steam in a buttered mould. Steaming gently and evenly cooks the batter through without drying the crumbs. The mould must be well buttered so the pudding releases cleanly after the long steam.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, apple, flour, raisin, ginger, milk, egg):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, apple, flour, raisin, ginger, milk, egg. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Mace	not in our table	0

Apple and Brown Bread Pudding