Name: English Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 2 cups beef suet; 2 cups chopped raisins; ½ cup citron; 1 cup molasses; ½ cup sugar; spices to taste; 2 cups water; flour as needed; 3 eggs

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 ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

In a large bowl, mix together the beef suet, chopped raisins, citron, molasses, sugar, and spices, then chop the mixture finely.
In a separate bowl, combine the water and enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Break in the eggs and beat well until combined.

Cook

Butter a pudding mold and pour in the mixture.
Boil the pudding for 3 hours.

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, cohesive pudding.
Flour: Thickens the water into a stiff batter that gives the pudding its body.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep, caramel-like flavor.
Chopped raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil the pudding for 3 hours. Steady, gentle boiling for the full time cooks the flour and eggs through and sets the pudding. Too little time leaves it dense and raw in the center, and the water must be kept topped up so the mold does not boil dry.

“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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English Plum Pudding