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, and sultana raisins.
Fold in the well-whisked egg whites.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Cover with oiled paper and a cloth, then 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 + 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).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the pudding a rich, tender body.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter and whisked whites lighten it and help it set during steaming.
- Flour
- Provides the starch that sets the batter into a firm, sliceable structure as it steams.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown slightly and keep a tender crumb.
- Sultana raisins
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air that lightens the batter. Stirring them in vigorously knocks out that air, leaving a dense pudding instead of a light one.
“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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