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 ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine sour milk and baking soda.
Add chopped suet, raisins, figs, and enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Sweeten with sugar to your taste.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam 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 + figtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + figtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,026 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Fig + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,192 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sour milk
- Acidic liquid that reacts with baking soda to produce gas and lighten the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release carbon dioxide, helping the pudding rise.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the stiff batter together while it sets.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam for 2 hours. Steaming must be gentle and steady so the pudding cooks through and sets without drying out or becoming soggy. The mold should be well greased so the pudding releases cleanly.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, raisin, flour, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figthe original
- Coconutfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, raisin, flour, sugar. 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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