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Dessert

6. Steamed Pudding.

A steamed pudding made with suet, raisins, currants, citron, egg, sweet milk, molasses, soda, salt, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

6. Steamed Pudding.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin, wash, and chop the suet, and dredge with flour.

  2. Wash, pick over and seed the dried fruit, slice the citron if it is used, and dredge all with flour.

Make the batter

  1. Stir together the milk and molasses, sift the dry ingredients with the flour, and stir the liquid into the flour slowly.

  2. Add the suet, beating the mass thoroughly, and last the fruit, sprinkling in both the suet and the fruit as you stir.

Steam and serve

  1. Fill a greased mold 2/3 full, close tightly, and cook in a kettle of boiling water for three hours.

  2. Serve with a hard or foamy sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

851Calories
28 gProtein
15 gFat
151 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Suet (in the method)
Adds fat and richness, keeping the pudding moist and tender as it steams.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and dark flavor, and moisture to the batter.
Soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lift and lighten the pudding.
Raisins
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and pockets of fruit flavor throughout.

The step that matters

Fill the mold no more than 2/3 full and seal it tightly. A batter that rises in the steaming mold needs room to expand; overfilling can cause it to spill or become dense. A tight seal keeps water out and moisture in during the long steam.

“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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