Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine chopped suet, molasses, and milk.
In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, and cinnamon.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until well combined.
Fold in the stoned raisins.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2½ hours until cooked through.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,070 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the pudding as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a tender, fatty texture.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness with mild acidity.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses' acidity to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and combines with the other wet ingredients to form the batter.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding dry ingredients slowly and stirring until just combined helps keep the batter smooth and lumps evenly distributed. Overmixing once flour is hydrated develops gluten, which can make the pudding tough and dense.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon. 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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