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 ↓
Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix baking soda into sour milk.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, suet, and raisins (coated with 1 tablespoon of flour).
Steam and serve
Transfer the mixture into a small bucket with a lid.
Place the bucket in a kettle of water and boil for 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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
- Sour milk
- Provides moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to the moist, tender crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Keeping the bucket fully submerged while boiling. If the water level drops and the bucket is not fully covered, the pudding cooks unevenly and can dry out at the top. Steady, gentle steaming in a covered container keeps heat even and moisture trapped, so the pudding sets through without scorching or drying.
“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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