Name: English Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup molasses; ½ cup butter; 1 cup sweet milk; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon mixed spices; 1 cup chopped raisins; 3½ cups all-purpose flour

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 ↓

English Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix molasses, butter, and sweet milk until well combined.
Add baking soda, mixed spices, chopped raisins, and flour. Stir until smooth.

Steam and serve

Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam the pudding for 2 to 3 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,577 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Molasses: Adds dark sweetness, moisture and a deep, treacle-like flavor.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that sets the batter into a firm, sliceable pudding.
Butter: Adds richness and a tender texture to the crumb.
Chopped raisins: Add chewy sweetness and concentrated fruit flavor throughout the pudding.

“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.