Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
A Meat-Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a basin and line it with a cloth.
Place the meat inside the basin.
Mix flour, suet, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
Cover the meat with the flour mixture to form a crust.
Tie the cloth securely around the basin.
Cook
Boil the basin in water for the required time.
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 + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,529 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
- Meat
- Forms the savory filling that the crust encloses while it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the dough-like crust that holds the filling together and contains it during boiling.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the crust moist and tender as it cooks.
The step that matters
Tie the cloth securely around the basin.. A loose cloth lets water seep into the basin during boiling, which can make the crust soggy and dilute the filling. A snug, secure tie keeps the pudding enclosed and cooking evenly.
“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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