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 ↓
Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the flour, molasses, milk, raisins, suet, baking soda, and salt, and mix well until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Add spices to taste and stir again.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for several hours until cooked through.
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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness to the pudding.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps hydrate the flour into a batter.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender during steaming.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to help the pudding rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Steaming until cooked through. Steaming is a gentle, moist heat that cooks the dense batter slowly. Undercooking leaves the center gummy, so the pudding should be checked until it is set all the way through.
“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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