Why it works: Flour and raisin 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 ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, mix molasses, flour, and milk.
Add eggs, raisins, and currants, and stir until combined.
Boil and serve
Pour the mixture into a pot and boil for 2.5 hours.
Serve warm with brandy or vinegar sauce.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides structure as its starches set during cooking.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps the flour form a smooth batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
The step that matters
Boiling for 2.5 hours. A long boil needs steady, gentle heat so the pudding cooks through and sets evenly, without scorching on the bottom of the pot or drying out at the surface.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour, milk, egg, raisin, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
- Applefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, flour, milk, egg, raisin, brandy. 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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