Why it works: Pepper and flour 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 ↓
Rump Steak Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the basin
Prepare a suet crust ½ inch thick and line a quart basin with it, raising the crust 1½ to 2 inches above the edge.
Layer trimmed rump steak in the basin, seasoning with salt and pepper or cayenne.
Pour in enough cold water to create gravy.
Cover and cook
Roll out a cover for the pudding, moisten the edges, and press them together with the crust.
Wrap the pudding in a floured cloth and tie it securely.
Place the pudding in boiling water and cook for 3 to 5 hours, depending on size.
Serve
Once cooked, pierce the top to release steam, remove the cloth, and cut a small opening to let steam escape before serving.
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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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 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 crust
- Forms a sealed, moist shell that holds the steak and gravy during long steaming.
- Rump steak
- Provides the meat that becomes tender through long, slow cooking in steam.
- Cold water
- Creates the gravy that forms in the basin as the steak cooks.
The step that matters
Sealing the cover. The edges must be moistened and pressed firmly together so steam and juices stay inside. A poor seal lets water seep into the pudding during boiling and dilutes the filling.
“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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