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Dessert

Steamed Graham Pudding

A steamed pudding made with graham flour, molasses, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Steamed Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix and sift the dry ingredients, except the white flour.

  2. Add molasses and sour milk to the cracklings and combine.

  3. Mix the white flour with the raisins and add to the mixture.

  4. Turn the mixture into a greased mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Cover and steam for three hours.

  2. Serve with caramel or lemon sauce.

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.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
Baking powder
Adds extra leavening so the dense graham batter rises during steaming.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
Sour milk
Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Graham flour
Forms the main structure and gives the pudding its coarse, hearty texture.
Cracklings
Add richness and fat, adding moisture and savory depth to the batter.

The step that matters

Cover and steam for three hours. Steaming must stay gentle and continuous so the leavening can lift the batter and the pudding sets through without drying. Letting the water boil dry or lifting the lid early can leave the pudding dense or uneven.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, raisin, milk, flour, cinnamon, clove, allspice):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, raisin, milk, flour, cinnamon, clove, allspice. 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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