Name: Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup milk; 1 cup maple molasses; 1 pint chopped seeded raisins; 1 tablespoon coconut butter; 1 teaspoon finely ground pine nuts; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon shredded lemon peel

Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine milk, maple molasses, chopped raisins, coconut butter, pine nuts, cinnamon, and lemon peel.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Cover with a crust, cutting slits to allow steam to escape.
Bake until golden brown.
Serve with cream sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Pine + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Coconut + cinnamontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together979 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Coconut + pinetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together25 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, molasses, raisin, coconut, butter, pine, cinnamon):

Almondfits better
Walnutfits better
Pistachiofits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, molasses, raisin, coconut, butter, pine, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.