Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
English Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, beat the eggs well.
Add the chopped suet, sour milk, chopped raisins, baking soda, salt, and grated nutmeg.
Mix in enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 5 hours.
Serve with egg sauce.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 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).
Milk and flour 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during steaming.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lighten the batter.
- Baking soda
- Releases gas in the acidic sour milk, helping the pudding rise.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the stiff batter together.
The step that matters
Mix in enough flour to create a stiff batter. A batter that is too thin lets the pudding turn heavy or loose once steamed. Flour needs to be added until the mixture holds its shape, so the starch can set during cooking.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, raisin, flour):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, raisin, flour. 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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