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Dessert

Graham Pudding

A steamed pudding made with bread crumbs, molasses, spices, milk, eggs, raisins, and currants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine bread crumbs, allspice, molasses, cloves, nutmeg, milk, baking soda, and eggs in a bowl. Mix in raisins and currants to your preference.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam for three hours.

  3. Serve with 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.

  1. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets while steaming.
Bread crumbs
Provide body and absorb the liquid so the pudding holds together.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps the batter come together.

The step that matters

Steam for three hours. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the eggs and crumbs into a set, moist pudding. If the water boils dry or the steam drops, the pudding can turn out dense or undercooked in the centre.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, allspice, molasses, clove, nutmeg, milk, egg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Raisinthe original
  4. Orangefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, allspice, molasses, clove, nutmeg, 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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