Name: English Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 9 eggs; flour (enough to make a thick batter); 2 cups (1 pint) milk; 2 pounds raisins, pitted; 2 pounds currants, washed and dried; 1 pound citron, sliced; ¼ pound bitter almonds, chopped; ¾ pound brown sugar; 1 nutmeg, grated; 1 teaspoon allspice; 1 teaspoon mace; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ¾ pound beef suet, finely chopped

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,115 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

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

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, milk, raisin, almond, sugar, nutmeg):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, milk, raisin, almond, sugar, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

English Plum Pudding