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 ↓
Hingham Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine brown sugar, molasses, and butter in a bowl until smooth.
Stir in sour milk with dissolved baking soda and Royal Baking Powder.
Add flour, salt, and raisins or currants, and mix well.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2½ hours.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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 starch and gluten structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to release gas, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
- Royal baking powder
- Adds extra leavening so the pudding rises further during steaming.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness with a slight acidity.
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the crumb and gives a tender, rich texture.
The step that matters
Mixing the sour milk with the baking soda and baking powder. Leavening works best when the gas is released into a batter that is still wet and well mixed. Adding the leaveners to the sour milk early lets the baking soda react with the acid, and the batter should go into the mold before that gas escapes.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, egg, milk, flour):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, egg, milk, 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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