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 ↓
Steamed Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
Combine suet, molasses, sugar, eggs, and sweet milk in a bowl.
Mix flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in another bowl.
Combine wet and dry ingredients, mixing well.
Fill and steam
Butter a dish or bowl and strew raisins on the bottom.
Pour batter into the prepared dish.
Steam for 2 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 moist and tender as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep brown color.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the pudding's structure as it cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that give the pudding its body.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas that lightens the texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that activates the baking soda and helps the batter rise.
The step that matters
Steam for 2 hours. Steam cooks the pudding gently and evenly. If the water boils dry or the cover is not sealed, the pudding can dry out or turn heavy and unevenly set.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Strawberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, egg, milk, flour, cream. 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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