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 ↓
Carrot Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Mix the batter
Mix sugar and softened butter in a bowl.
Add grated carrots, grated potatoes, and mixed dried fruit.
Stir in flour and mixed spices.
Dissolve baking soda in a small amount of grated potatoes and fold into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour into a greased baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Let cool before serving.
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.
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the pudding rich and tender.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Carrots
- Contribute moisture, natural sweetness, and body to the pudding.
- Potatoes
- Add moisture and body, helping the pudding stay soft and moist.
- Mixed dried fruit
- Adds concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in grated potato and fold it in evenly. Dissolving the baking soda first spreads it evenly through the batter, so the pudding rises and sets uniformly instead of forming dense or patchy areas. Folding gently keeps the mixture light.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, carrot, potato, raisin, flour):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, carrot, potato, raisin, flour. 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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