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Dessert

Graham Pudding

A steamed pudding made with graham flour, raisins, molasses, milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the graham flour, raisins, molasses, milk, baking soda, cloves, beaten egg, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered dish.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for three hours.

  2. Serve hot with 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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets.
Graham flour
Provides the main body and structure of the pudding.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acid to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture with a deep flavor.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and pockets of sweetness throughout.

The step that matters

Steam for three hours. Steaming gently and steadily sets the batter through without drying it out. Letting the water boil dry or lifting the lid often can cause uneven cooking and a dense or dry pudding.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cardamomfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, molasses, flour, milk, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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