Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓
Currant Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pudding
In a large bowl, combine the minced suet, bread crumbs or flour, currants, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Beat the eggs and add enough milk to wet the mixture.
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly.
Boil and serve
Tie the mixture in a cloth securely.
Boil in water for 3 hours.
Serve with caudle or a simple sweet 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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Minced suet
- Provides fat that melts during boiling, keeping the pudding moist and rich.
- Bread crumbs or flour
- Forms the body of the pudding and absorbs liquid to hold its shape.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and add structure as they set during cooking.
- Currants
- Add fruitiness and chewy pockets of sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Tie the cloth securely. If the cloth is loose, water can seep into the pudding during the long boil, making it soggy and diluting its flavour. A firm, sealed wrap keeps the mixture compact and moist while it cooks.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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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