Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Treacle Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil a large saucepan of water.
Chop the suet finely after removing the skin.
In a basin, combine flour, a pinch of salt, and baking powder.
Add the chopped suet and ground ginger, then mix well.
In another basin, mix treacle, milk, and egg together.
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients.
Add more milk if needed to achieve a stiff batter.
Grease a quart basin.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into the basin, ensuring it is full.
Sprinkle flour on top.
Cover with a cloth and tie it tightly with string.
Place the pudding in the saucepan.
Boil for 2 hours.
Carefully remove the pudding from the saucepan and take off the cloth.
Turn it out onto a hot dish.
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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Ginger + milktop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,519 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour and milk 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
- Flour
- Forms the bulk of the batter and provides structure as the pudding sets.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich during long boiling.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the pudding rises and becomes light.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and a rich flavor to the pudding.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps give the pudding its set structure.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and adjusts the batter to a stiff, workable consistency.
The step that matters
Keep the basin full and tightly sealed before boiling. Leaving air space lets the pudding rise unevenly and can let water seep in, making it soggy. A tight cloth and string keep the pudding moist and evenly cooked during the long boil.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, egg. 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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