Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Rub the suet through the flour.
Mix the currants and raisins, dredging them with enough flour to coat.
Beat the eggs until thick and light, then add milk to form a batter.
Stir in the eggs, spices, salt, and lastly the fruit.
Boil and serve
Dip a pudding bag in cold water, flour it well, then pour in the batter.
Tie the bag securely, leaving space for the pudding to swell.
Boil a pot of water with a plate at the bottom to prevent the bag from touching.
Place the pudding in the pot and boil for 2.5 hours, adding boiling water as needed.
Once done, dip the pudding in cold water, untie the bag, and turn it out onto a dish.
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Set during boiling to give the pudding structure, and whipping adds lightness.
- Flour
- Forms the body of the pudding and absorbs liquid to create the batter structure.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and eggs to form a pourable batter that sets when cooked.
- Currants
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Leave room in the pudding bag and keep the water topped up. The pudding swells as it cooks, so a tightly tied bag can burst. Boiling water must be added as needed so the pot does not boil dry during the long cook.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, raisin, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, raisin, egg, milk. 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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