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Amherst Pudding

A boiled pudding made with molasses, suet, flour, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓

Amherst Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the molasses and baking soda until combined.

  2. Add the milk and chopped suet, stirring well.

  3. Gradually add the flour, raisins, salt, cinnamon, and cloves, mixing until smooth.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Boil for 2 to 3 hours, ensuring the water level remains consistent.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture and a deep sweetness to the pudding.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lighten the batter and help it rise.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Raisins
Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Keep the water level consistent while boiling. A long steam or boil needs steady water, since the mold must stay evenly heated throughout. If the water drops, the pudding can cook unevenly and turn dense or dry at the edges.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. 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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