Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the pudding
In a bowl, combine the suet, sour milk, baking soda, sugar, nutmeg, and salt.
Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff.
Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.
Steam
Steam for about 1.5 hours or until cooked through.
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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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).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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 tender as it cooks.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the pudding rises and softens.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding soft and moist.
- Flour
- Provides structure, setting the mixture into a firm, sliceable pudding.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the mixture is stiff. Adding flour gradually lets you judge the stiffness and avoid an overly dense or loose pudding. Too much flour makes it tough, while too little leaves it wet and unable to hold its shape when steamed.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, 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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