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 ↓
Albert Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the butter to a cream.
Stir in the yolks of the eggs.
Gradually add the sugar, flour, bread crumbs, and sultana raisins.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Fold the stiff egg whites into the mixture.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Cover the mixture with oiled paper and a cloth.
Steam for three hours.
Serve with wine 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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (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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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, 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
- Yolks enrich the batter and whipped whites lighten it, giving the pudding a tender texture.
- Butter
- Creamed butter adds richness and a soft, tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides structure so the pudding holds its shape after steaming.
- Bread crumbs
- Add body and absorb moisture, giving the pudding a light, soft texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps tenderise the batter.
The step that matters
Fold the stiff egg whites into the mixture. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Stirring or beating deflates them, leaving a dense pudding instead of a light one.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, flour, bread):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar, flour, bread. 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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