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 ↓
Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, butter, raisins, currants, citron, and the whipped eggs.
Add the grated nutmeg and mace, mixing well.
Transfer the mixture into a pudding mold.
Cook and serve
Steam or boil for three hours.
Serve with wine 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whipped eggs add lift and help bind the batter into a set, tender pudding.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps brown the surface of the pudding.
- Raisins
- Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steaming or boiling the pudding. The pudding must cook slowly in gently simmering water or steam so the centre sets evenly without drying or becoming dense at the edges. Keeping the water at a steady simmer and topping it up matters over the full three hours.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, raisin, currant, egg, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, raisin, currant, egg, nutmeg. 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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