Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Beefsteak Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the beefsteak into thin slices and dip them into seasoned flour.
Roll each slice with a small piece of fat inside.
Chop the suet finely and mix it with the flour and a pinch of salt.
Add cold water to make a stiff paste and roll it out.
Line a greased shallow pudding basin with the paste, keeping back one-third for the cover.
Layer the pieces of meat inside and season them.
Pour in a little water and moisten the edges of the paste.
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 + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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