Name: Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 1 lb raisins; 1 lb Sultanas; 2½ lbs currants; ½ lb mixed peel; 1 lb almonds; 7 lbs brown sugar; 1 oz mixed spice

Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Wash the raisins, Sultanas, and currants in cold water and dry them.
Cut the mixed peel into strips and chop the almonds into small pieces.
Boil the brown sugar until it reaches the ball stage, then remove from heat and grain it.
Add the washed fruits, mixed peel, chopped almonds, and mixed spice to the grained sugar and mix well with a spatula.
Place the mixture into wet cloths, tie them tightly, and hang them up until set hard.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Currant + almondtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,659 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).