Name: Suet Pudding
Ingredients: 8 oz all-purpose flour; 4 oz suet; treacle or syrup; bread crumbs; grated rind of 1 lemon; juice of 1 lemon

Why it works: Flour and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,540 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Suet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

In a bowl, mix flour, suet, treacle or syrup, bread crumbs, lemon rind, and lemon juice until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Steam and serve

Cover with a lid or foil and steam for about 1.5 to 2 hours.
Serve warm, optionally with custard or cream.

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.

Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,540 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,404 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,445 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,235 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + breadtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,383 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and bread barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 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

All-purpose flour: Forms the structure of the pudding as it steams and sets.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Treacle or syrup: Adds sweetness and a deep, caramel-like flavour.
Bread crumbs: Soaks up fat and moisture, giving the pudding a light, tender crumb.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the treacle.