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 ↓
Graham Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine milk, molasses, and the beaten egg in a large bowl.
Add graham flour, baking powder, raisins, salt, and spice, then mix well.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 3 hours until cooked through.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 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).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk and structure of the pudding, with its coarse bran giving a hearty texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during steaming, lifting the batter so the pudding is light rather than dense.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the pudding as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of chewy sweetness distributed through the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam for the full time. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the batter through without drying it. Lifting the lid or letting the water boil low can cause uneven setting, leaving the center dense or underdone.
“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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