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 ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine molasses, suet, sour milk, and sugar.
Mix in flour and baking soda until well combined.
Fold in raisins and currants.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 3 hours.
Serve with a liquid sauce.
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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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 steams.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich during steaming.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture with a deep, slightly bitter flavor.
- Sour milk
- Supplies acidity that activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
The step that matters
Mix in flour and baking soda until well combined. Baking soda needs an acid to react and rise; if it is unevenly distributed, pockets may be bitter or dense while others collapse. Mixing thoroughly spreads the leavening through the batter evenly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, sugar, flour, raisin):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, sugar, flour, raisin. 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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