Name: Marmalade Puddings
Ingredients: ½ pound suet; ½ pound grated bread crumbs; ½ pound sugar; 3 ounces orange marmalade; 4 eggs; 2 ounces butter; 2 ounces white sugar; brandy or lemon (for flavoring)

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Marmalade Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

Mix the suet, bread crumbs, sugar, orange marmalade, and eggs together.
Pour the mixture into a mold lined with raisins.
Boil for 4 hours.

Make the sauce

For the sauce, beat the butter and white sugar to a cream and flavor with brandy or lemon.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,706 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,127 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Bread + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together976 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Suet: Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a tender, rich texture.
Bread crumbs: Absorbs liquid and provides bulk, giving the pudding its body.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it cooks.
Orange marmalade: Adds sweetness and bright citrus acidity along with aroma.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the creamed sauce.