Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding, to Serve with Roast Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Finely chop the suet after removing the skin.
Mix the chopped suet with the flour, salt, and pepper.
Add milk or water to form a smooth paste.
Cook
Tie the mixture in a floured cloth.
Place it in a buttered basin.
Boil for 2½ to 3 hours.
Variations
Substitute 3 beaten eggs for some of the milk or water.
Increase the suet.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour and milk 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
- Flour
- Forms the body of the pudding and gives it structure as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender during long boiling.
- Eggs
- Enrich the batter and add structure and richness when substituted for some of the liquid.
The step that matters
Boil for 2½ to 3 hours. The pudding must boil steadily for the full time so the flour fully cooks through and the suet softens into a tender, moist texture. Letting the water drop too low can leave the centre heavy and undercooked.
“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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