Name: Raisin Pudding, Economical
Ingredients: 8 ounces beef suet, finely shredded; 1 pound flour; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons moist sugar; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ⅛ nutmeg, grated; 10 ounces stoned raisins; Milk, as needed

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 ↓

Raisin Pudding, Economical

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix the shredded suet, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, grated nutmeg, and raisins.
Stir in enough milk to make a thick batter.

Bake and serve

Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.
Bake for 1.5 hours or until cooked through.
Turn out the pudding, sprinkle sugar on top, and serve.

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet: Melts during baking to add richness and a moist, tender crumb.
Flour: Forms the structure of the pudding once it is mixed with milk and baked.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the pudding rises and turns lighter.
Stoned raisins: Add pockets of sweetness and chew throughout the pudding.