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Dessert

Graham Pudding

A steamed pudding made with Graham flour, sour milk, raisins, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine Graham flour, sour milk, chopped raisins, molasses, and egg.

  2. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add to the mixture.

  3. Stir in cinnamon, grated nutmeg, and salt until well combined.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam for 3 hours until set.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Graham flour
Provides the main structure and body of the pudding.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps it set as it cooks.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of sour milk and molasses to lighten the pudding.
Sour milk
Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in hot water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and mixed evenly into the batter so it reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of bitterness or dense spots.

“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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