Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Combine the raisins, currants, sugar, and flour in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the molasses and milk.
Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
Flavor the mixture with nutmeg and cloves.
Cook
Place the mixture into a cloth bag and boil for six hours.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and add structure as the pudding sets.
- Flour
- Provides the starch that gives the pudding its body.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness.
- Currants
- Add tart fruit flavor and chewy texture throughout.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding moist.
The step that matters
Boiling the cloth bag. The pudding must boil steadily for the full six hours. Water that drops too low or boils too weakly leaves the centre undercooked and dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, flour, egg, molasses, milk, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, flour, egg, molasses, milk, nutmeg. 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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