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 ↓
Sale Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, combine the suet, molasses, milk, flour, raisins, currants, baking powder, and salt, then mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam
Steam for 3 hours until cooked through.
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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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Milk and flour 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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding tender and moist as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during cooking so the pudding rises and lightens.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the batter.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter a soft, moist texture.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy pockets of fruit throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steaming for the full time. Steam heats the batter gently and slowly, so the centre sets only after sustained cooking. Stopping early can leave a dense, doughy middle, so check that the pudding is cooked through before serving.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, flour, raisin):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Datesfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, flour, raisin. 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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