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Suet Pudding

A steamed suet pudding with 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 ↓

Suet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the suet.

  2. Seed the raisins.

  3. Combine the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.

  5. Add the molasses and salt.

  6. Beat the egg well and stir it into the mixture.

  7. Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish.

  2. Boil or steam in a covered dish for three hours.

  3. Serve with brandy sauce.

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. Raisin + flourtop 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. Nutmeg + flourtop 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

Flour
Forms the main structure of the pudding as it cooks.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Egg
Binds the ingredients together and adds structure to the batter.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep flavor.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Baking soda needs to be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acidic molasses. Uneven dissolving leaves pockets of soda that can taste bitter and cause a patchy rise.

“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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