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 ↓
Boiled Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix milk, molasses, suet or butter, and raisins in a large bowl.
Add sifted flour, baking soda, cream of tartar (or baking powder), and salt; mix well.
Boil
Pour mixture into a cloth, tie it up tightly, and place it in boiling water.
Boil for 4 hours, ensuring the water remains at a steady boil.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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 main structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
- Suet or butter
- Adds fat, which gives the pudding a richer, more tender texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Cream of tartar or baking powder
- Provides acid or leavening so the pudding rises and becomes light.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a steady boil. The pudding cooks by steam and boiling water, so if the water drops below a boil for long, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn heavy. Topping up with boiling water helps keep the heat constant over the four hours.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, molasses, butter, flour, cream):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, molasses, butter, flour, cream. 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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