Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Combine the chopped suet, molasses, milk, flour, baking powder, raisins, currants, cinnamon, and allspice in a large bowl. Mix until well combined.
Place the mixture in a pudding boiler.
Cook and serve
Boil for 2 to 3 hours by placing the pudding boiler in a deep vessel of boiling water.
Serve hot with a creamy 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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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef suet
- Provides fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during cooking so the pudding rises and stays light.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and a deep, rich flavour.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps bind the flour into a batter.
The step that matters
Boiling the pudding in water. The pudding must cook in a deep vessel of boiling water for the full 2 to 3 hours so the heat cooks it through evenly. Water that drops too low slows cooking and can leave the centre dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, molasses, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon, allspice):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, molasses, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon, allspice. 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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