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 ↓
Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the eggs until very light.
Add the milk, flour, and butter to the eggs and mix well.
Cut and stone the raisins, then mix them into the batter along with the grated nutmeg.
Boil the pudding
Wet a cloth and tie it tightly around the pudding.
Place the pudding in boiling water and shake it gently for a minute or two to prevent the raisins from settling.
Boil 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Eggs
- Beaten until light, they trap air and give the pudding its structure as it sets.
- Flour
- Forms the bulk of the batter and sets with the eggs to give the pudding its body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender texture to the batter.
- Milk
- Moistens the batter and helps bind the flour and eggs into a smooth mixture.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy pieces throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Shake the pudding in the boiling water. Raisins are heavier than the batter and sink, so gentle shaking for a minute or two keeps them evenly distributed while the batter begins to set.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, butter, raisin):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Jalapenofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, butter, raisin. 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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