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
In a large bowl, combine the chopped raisins, suet, sweet milk, sugar, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Cover the mixture tightly and steam or boil for 2 hours, leaving room for the pudding to swell.
Serve with a liquid sauce.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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 rich as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda for rising.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Covering and steaming for 2 hours. The mixture must be sealed tightly so steam cooks it evenly without drying. Leaving room for swelling matters because the leavening expands the batter as it cooks, and a tight container could burst or squeeze the pudding.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, flour, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Strawberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, flour, cream. 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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