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Dessert

Taylor Pudding

A steamed molasses and suet pudding with raisins and brandy, served with a sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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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 ↓

Taylor Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Steam the first pudding

  1. Combine one cupful of molasses, one cupful of milk, three‑fourths cupful of butter, six cupfuls of flour, three eggs, and two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder; steam for three hours.

Make the first sauce

  1. For the sauce, cream one cupful of butter with two cupfuls of sugar, add yolks of two eggs beaten very light, and one cupful of boiling water. Just before serving, stir in the whites of eggs well beaten; flavor to taste.

Steam the second pudding

  1. Combine one cupful of warm molasses, one cupful of sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda in milk, one cupful of suet chopped fine, three and one‑half cupfuls of flour, one cupful of raisins chopped fine, one wine‑glassful of brandy or wine, a little salt, and one teaspoonful of cinnamon; steam for three hours.

Make the second sauce and serve

  1. For the sauce, mix one tablespoonful of corn starch made smooth in cold water, add one‑half pint of boiling water, one cupful of sugar, one‑half cupful of butter, yolk of one egg well beaten, nutmeg, and wine or brandy.

  2. In your pudding dish, layer pieces of cake, then a layer of blackberry jam, then another layer of cake, and so on until the dish is filled; drizzle a few drops of brandy over it to flavor. Serve with whipped cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1114Calories
36 gProtein
35 gFat
164 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Waternot in our table0
Brandynot in our table0

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

By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid 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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Builds the crumb structure that holds the steamed pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Baking powder
Releases gas during steaming, lifting the pudding so it becomes light.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark color to the pudding.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich during steaming.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites for the sauce. Beaten whites trap air that gives the sauce its lightness, and they lose volume if they stand. Stirring them in gently just before serving keeps the sauce airy.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

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

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