Name: Christmas Pudding, Economical and Good
Ingredients: ¼ pound beef suet, finely shredded; ¼ pound all-purpose flour; ¼ pound finely grated bread crumbs; 6 ounces currants, picked and dried; 6 ounces stoned raisins; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; ¼ pound mashed carrot; ¼ pound mashed potatoes; 1 ounce chopped candied lemon; 1 ounce fresh lemon rind, chopped; salt to taste; 1 tablespoon treacle

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 ↓

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 + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet: Adds fat and richness, keeping the pudding moist as it cooks.
All-purpose flour: Provides structure so the mixture holds together when boiled.
Bread crumbs: Absorbs moisture and lightens the texture of the pudding.
Currants: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy fruit texture.
Treacle: Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich, molasses-like flavour.

The step that matters

Tie the mixture loosely in a floured cloth. The cloth must leave room for the pudding to expand while boiling. Tying it too tightly can compress the mixture, making it dense, and a floured surface helps keep the cloth from sticking to the pudding.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, bread, raisin, sugar, carrot, potato):

Figfits better
Orangefits better
Vanillafits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, bread, raisin, sugar, carrot, potato. 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.

Christmas Pudding, Economical and Good