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Beefsteak and Kidney Pudding

A steamed pudding made from beefsteak, kidney, flour, suet paste, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beefsteak and Kidney Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the steak and kidney into pieces about ¼ inch thick.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then dredge with a little flour.

Assemble and cook

  1. Butter a round-bottomed pudding basin and line it with rolled‑out suet paste, about ½ inch thick.

  2. Add the seasoned beef and kidney to the basin, then pour in 4 to 5 tablespoons of water.

  3. Cover with a piece of paste, press firmly together, and tie the basin in a floured cloth.

  4. Steam or boil for 3 hours.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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

Rump steak
Provides the main meaty bulk and chewy, savory texture after long cooking.
Beef kidney
Adds deep, rich meaty flavor and a softer texture to the filling.
Flour
Dusting the meat lightly helps thicken the juices into a rich gravy.
Suet paste
Forms a tender, sealed crust that encloses the filling while it steams.

The step that matters

Tying the basin in a floured cloth. The cloth must be tight and well floured so steam cannot escape or water seep in, keeping the pudding moist and cooked evenly during the long steaming.

“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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