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Dessert

Suet Pudding

A steamed suet pudding with molasses, currants, raisins, orange peel, walnuts, and preserved cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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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 ↓

Suet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, combine chopped suet, eggs, molasses, and sugar.

  2. Add currants, raisins, and finely chopped orange peel.

  3. In a separate bowl, mix sweet milk with baking soda and set aside.

  4. In another bowl, combine baking powder, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Mix and steam

  1. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing well.

  2. Fold in walnuts and preserved cherries.

  3. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  4. Steam for about 2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 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 rich as it steams.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets.
All-purpose flour
Forms the main structure of the pudding once it sets.
Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture, and a deep sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the milk and helps the pudding rise and lighten.
Baking powder
Releases gas during steaming to help the pudding rise.

The step that matters

Steam for about 2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Steamed batters cook slowly and unevenly, so the pudding must be fully set in the center. Checking with a skewer confirms it is cooked through rather than gummy or wet inside.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, molasses, sugar, raisin, orange, milk, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, molasses, sugar, raisin, orange, milk, flour. 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.

More suet pudding recipes

Lemon 28Boiled 19Steamed 12Potato 11Apple 10Raisin 10 See all 649 →

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