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 ↓
Lowell Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine milk, raisins, molasses, brown sugar, suet, baking soda, and salt.
Add flour gradually until you achieve a stiff batter.
Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.
Cook and serve
Boil for 3 hours.
Serve 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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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the pudding stay soft.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses and milk to lighten the batter and help it rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the stiff batter together as it cooks.
The step that matters
Add flour gradually until the batter is stiff. Too much flour makes the pudding dense and dry, while too little leaves it loose and soggy. Adding it slowly lets you judge the texture and stop at the right point.
“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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