Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the finely chopped suet, fruit, and sugar, mixing well.
Gradually add milk until a stiff batter forms.
Steam and serve
Pour the batter into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 1.5 hours.
Serve with a rich 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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during steaming, helping the pudding rise and turn light.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown slightly at the edges.
- Fruit
- Adds moisture, sweetness and flavor throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Gradually add milk until a stiff batter forms. Adding milk slowly lets you stop at a stiff batter. Too much liquid makes the pudding heavy and wet, while too little leaves dry, crumbly flour pockets that do not hydrate evenly during steaming.
“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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