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Beefsteak Pudding

A suet‑crusted pudding made with layers of steak, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, pepper, sea salt, cayenne, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Beefsteak Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fill

  1. Prepare a suet crust and line a cake tin with it.

  2. Layer steak, chopped onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms in the tin.

  3. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and cayenne.

  4. Add ½ cup of water before closing the crust.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours and serve hot.

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. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Suet crust
Forms a rich, sturdy case that encloses the filling and holds in its juices.
Steak
Provides the main meaty flavour and becomes tender during the long, slow bake.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften and mellow in the filling.
Tomatoes
Contribute acidity and moisture that blend into the juices of the filling.
Mushrooms
Add savoury depth and extra moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Closing the crust. The crust must be sealed well before baking. The water and meat juices turn to steam and simmer the steak, so any gap lets liquid escape and leaves the filling dry or thin.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, mushroom, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, mushroom, pepper. 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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