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 ↓
Carrot Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine grated carrots, grated potatoes, sugar, butter, flour, raisins, baking soda mixture, salt, and spices, then mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Transfer the mixture to a double boiler.
Cook for three hours, ensuring the water in the boiler remains simmering.
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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Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Carrots
- Provide the bulk and moist, sweet body of the pudding.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and body, helping the pudding hold together as it cooks.
- Flour
- Provides structure, binding the grated vegetables into a set pudding.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding moist.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the mixture to lighten its texture and aid browning.
The step that matters
Keeping the double boiler simmering. The pudding cooks gently over steam for three hours. If the water boils dry or the heat is too high, the mixture can scorch or cook unevenly, so the water level and simmer need checking throughout.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, sugar, butter, flour, raisin):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, sugar, butter, flour, raisin. 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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