Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the chopped suet, flour, eggs, water, and salt.
Beat the mixture well until smooth.
Prepare and boil
Prepare a pudding cloth by soaking it in hot water and then flouring it.
Place the mixture in the prepared cloth and tie it securely.
Boil in a kettle of boiling water for 1.5 hours.
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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the pudding together.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and add structure and richness as they set.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth securely. If the cloth is loose, water can seep into the pudding and make it soggy, and the shape may spread or break apart during boiling. A snug, well-floured cloth keeps the pudding compact and dense.
“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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