Name: Calfs Foot Pudding
Ingredients: calf's feet, minced; 1½ pounds suet, sliced without skin; 6 egg yolks; 4 egg whites; crumb of ½ penny roll, grated; a few chopped raisins; sugar, to taste; milk, as needed

Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Calfs Foot Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mince the calf's feet finely, removing the brown and fatty parts.
Slice the suet and set aside.

Make the pudding

Beat the egg yolks and egg whites together.
Combine the grated roll, chopped raisins, sugar, and enough milk to moisten the mixture.
Mix in the minced calf's feet and suet.

Cook and serve

Boil the mixture for nine hours.
Serve with a simple sauce.

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.

Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,155 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Calf's feet: Collagen from the feet gives the pudding body and helps it set as it cools.
Suet: Adds fat for richness and a moist, tender texture.
Egg yolks: Enrich the mixture and help bind it as it cooks.
Egg whites: Add lift and help bind the mixture as it cooks.
Roll crumb: Absorbs the milk and gives the pudding structure and body.
Milk: Moistens the crumb and keeps the mixture from drying out.