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 ↓
Fruit 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.
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
Add the chopped suet, sour milk, and jam, and combine well.
Steam
Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2 to 3 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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the pudding together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity, activating the baking soda.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- Jam
- Adds sweetness, fruit flavor, and extra moisture.
The step that matters
Steam for 2 to 3 hours. Gentle, sustained steam cooks the batter through slowly and evenly while keeping it moist. Cooking it too briefly leaves the center dense and underdone.
“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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