Name: An English Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 8 eggs; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 pound powdered sugar; 1 pound suet, finely shredded; 1 pint milk; 1 nutmeg, grated; ½ cup brandy; 1 pound currants, washed, picked, and dried; 1 cup raisins, pitted and floured

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 ↓

An English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Beat the eggs until very light.
Add the sifted flour and powdered sugar, mixing until light and fluffy.
Stir in the shredded suet, milk, grated nutmeg, and brandy.
Fold in the currants and floured raisins.

Boil

Tie the mixture in a thick cloth and boil steadily for 8 hours.

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Beaten eggs trap air and give the pudding its light structure as it sets.
All-purpose flour: Flour forms the starch structure that holds the pudding together when cooked.
Suet: Suet adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Currants: Dried currants add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.
Raisins: Raisins add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.
Brandy: Brandy adds aroma and flavour to the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil steadily for 8 hours. The pudding must stay at a steady boil for the full time so the batter cooks through and sets firm. If the water drops too low, the pudding can turn heavy and undercooked in the centre.

Swap the currant

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Lemonfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, sugar, milk, nutmeg, brandy, raisin. 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.

Brandy Peaches68 recipes

Red Currant Jelly65 recipes

Currant Ice Cream32 recipes

Brandy Cream21 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

An English Plum Pudding