Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine chopped suet, molasses, sugar, sour milk, baking soda, flour, raisins, cinnamon, and cloves.
Pour the mixture into a cake pan.
Steam and dry
Set the pan in a steamer and steam for 3 hours.
Transfer the pudding to a preheated oven at 300°F (150°C) for a few minutes to dry.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a moist, dense texture.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the pudding rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses to produce gas for lift.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of chewy sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steaming for 3 hours. Steam must be kept steady and the water topped up so the pudding cooks evenly and stays moist. Steam heat sets the batter gently, and drying briefly in the oven afterward helps the surface firm up.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, milk, flour, raisin, cinnamon. 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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