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 ↓
Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine molasses, sugar, suet or butter, raisins, citron, currants, sweet milk, flour, and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam and serve
Steam for 5 hours.
Serve with clear sauce.
To store, steam enough to heat thoroughly before serving.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
- Suet or butter
- Adds fat, giving the pudding a tender, moist crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dense pudding together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during steaming, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning and a soft texture.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness, chewiness and moisture to the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam for the full time. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the dense batter through without drying it. Letting the water boil dry or stopping early can leave the pudding soggy in the center or scorched at the base.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, raisin, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, raisin, milk, flour. 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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