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 ↓
Steamed Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the suet, raisins, molasses, sour milk, egg, and baking soda.
Gradually add flour until you achieve a stiff batter.
Steam
Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.
Steam the pudding for 2 hours.
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 + molassestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a moist, deep flavor.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the pudding rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the ingredients together and adds structure to the set pudding.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together once steamed.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the batter is stiff. Adding too much flour at once or too little can throw off the batter's consistency. A stiff batter holds its shape and keeps the pudding dense and even, while a loose batter may turn out soggy.
“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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