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 ↓
Ginger Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and molasses together.
Add the raisins, currants, and hot water.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and mix it in.
Stir in the ground ginger and the egg.
Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a double boiler and steam for one hour.
Serve hot with sauce.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Raisin + gingertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,242 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the pudding and keeps its crumb tender.
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, dark color, and moisture with a deep flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas that lightens the pudding.
- Egg
- Binds the ingredients together and helps give the pudding structure as it sets.
- Flour
- Builds the structure of the pudding as its starch sets during steaming.
- Ground ginger
- Contributes the warm, spicy aroma that defines the pudding.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff. Adding flour slowly lets you stop at the right consistency. Too much flour makes the starch and gluten firm the pudding, producing a dense, tough texture instead of a light one.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, molasses, raisin, ginger, egg, flour):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses, raisin, ginger, egg, 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.
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