Why it works: Flour and raisin 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 ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, suet, molasses, sweet milk, raisins, and baking soda, then mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a pudding bag or a pudding dish.
Boil for 3 hours in a pot of water.
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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 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).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten framework that gives the pudding its body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich flavour, and keeps the pudding moist.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in molasses to release gas, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and binds the batter, adding moisture.
The step that matters
Boil for 3 hours in a pot of water. Long, steady cooking in water heats the batter gently and evenly through its full depth. This sets the starch and fat into a moist, cohesive pudding without drying the outside before the centre is cooked.
“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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