Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Beefsteak Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Rub suet into flour and salt, then mix with ice water to form a soft paste.
Roll the paste into a sheet about ½ inch thick.
Assemble the pudding
Butter a round-bottomed pudding mold and line it with the paste.
Cut the steak into small squares and season with pepper, salt, and catsup.
Fill the paste-lined mold with the seasoned steak.
Cut a piece of paste for the top and cover the filling, pinching the edges tightly.
Hold the bowl while covering it with a floured stout pudding cloth, tying it tightly underneath.
Boil and serve
Plunge the mold into a gallon of boiling water and maintain a fast boil for 2 hours, adding water as needed.
After cooking, turn the bowl upside down and dip it in cold water, then carefully invert onto a hot dish to release the pudding.
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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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour and butter 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
- Steak
- Provides the main meat filling, which becomes tender during the long steaming.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the paste short and moist as it steams.
- Flour
- Forms the paste that lines, encloses and holds the filling together.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour into a soft paste while keeping the fat firm for tenderness.
- Tomato catsup
- Adds sweetness and acidity that season the steak through the filling.
The step that matters
Maintain a fast boil for 2 hours. The water must stay at a steady boil and be topped up as needed. Lower heat or a drop in water level slows cooking and can leave the steak tough and the paste doughy.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, butter. 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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