Name: Date Pudding
Ingredients: 1 egg, beaten light; ½ cup melted butter; ½ cup milk; 1½ cups molasses; 1½ cups graham flour; ½ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup dates, stoned and chopped

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Date Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, combine the beaten egg, melted butter, milk, and molasses.
Mix in the graham flour, salt, and baking soda until well combined.
Fold in the chopped dates.

Steam and serve

Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2 hours.
Serve with a creamy 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + datestop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together470 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Eggs: Binds the batter and adds structure as the pudding sets.
Graham flour: Provides the body and structure of the pudding.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses to help the pudding rise and lighten.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
Dates: Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout.

Swap the dates

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

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, milk, molasses, flour. 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.