Name: Fruit Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound bread crumbs; ½ pound mashed potatoes; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup molasses; 2 cups raisins

Why it works: Molasses and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,577 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, eggs, baking soda dissolved in molasses, and raisins. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.

Steam and serve

Steam the pudding for 3 hours.
Serve with your choice of 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.

Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Bread + potatotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together434 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Potato + raisintop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together91 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Bread + raisintop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,111 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Provides the body and structure that holds the pudding together.
Mashed potatoes: Adds moisture and a soft, tender crumb to the pudding.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the texture and aid rising.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep flavor, and moistens the pudding.
Raisins: Add chewy pockets of sweetness throughout the pudding.