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Dessert

Suet Pudding

A steamed suet pudding with raisins, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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

Make the pudding

  1. Mix the suet, flour, raisins, molasses, sweet milk, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and cream of tartar until well combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold or heatproof bowl.

Cook and serve

  1. Steam or boil the pudding for 2 hours.

  2. Serve warm with cream.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Suet
Adds richness and a moist, tender texture as it melts during cooking.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a moist, deep flavor.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and cream of tartar to lighten the pudding.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter and helps the baking soda produce gas for lift.
Raisins
Add pockets of chewy sweetness throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Steam or boil the pudding for 2 hours. The pudding must cook gently and steadily for the full time so the starch sets and the leavening fully works. Letting the water boil dry or drop too low can leave the center dense and underdone.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, molasses, milk, cinnamon, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, molasses, milk, cinnamon, cream. 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.

More suet pudding recipes

Lemon 28Boiled 19Steamed 12Potato 11Apple 10Raisin 10 See all 649 →

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