Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix the shredded suet, flour, beaten eggs, and salt.
Add milk gradually until the mixture is moist but not too wet.
Boil and serve
Transfer the mixture to a cloth or pudding mold and tie securely.
Boil in a pot of water for 4 hours.
Serve sliced.
Broil the next day for best flavor.
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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Suet
- Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together after boiling.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and add structure as they set during cooking.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour so the mixture forms a moist, workable dough.
The step that matters
Adding the milk. Milk must be added gradually, since too much liquid makes the dough too wet to hold its shape in the cloth or mold and can make the pudding heavy and gummy once the flour starches set during cooking.
“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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