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 ↓
Graham Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the pudding
Combine molasses, sour milk, graham flour, all-purpose flour, raisins, baking soda, and chopped suet in a bowl.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam and dry
Steam for 2 hours.
After steaming, place the pudding in a 300°F (150°C) oven for a few minutes to dry out.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk and flour 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
- Molasses
- Adds dark sweetness and moisture, and gives the pudding its color and flavor.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to make the pudding rise.
- Graham flour
- Adds coarse bran and body, giving the pudding a hearty, tender texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides gluten structure so the pudding holds its shape after steaming.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
The step that matters
Steaming the pudding. The mold must be kept sealed and at a steady simmer so steam cooks the pudding evenly. Letting the water boil dry or the pudding sit uncovered can make it dense and dry on the outside.
“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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