Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Puddings and Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
Ensure the suet and eggs are fresh. Cut the suet into slices and remove any fibrous matter.
Roll the suet thoroughly until it is incorporated with the flour and is invisible.
If unsure about the eggs' freshness, crack each one into a cup before adding.
Dip a fine linen cloth in boiling water, then spread it over a basin and dredge with flour.
Boil the pudding in plenty of water, keeping it constantly boiling.
After boiling, plunge the pudding into cold water for a few seconds to chill the outside.
To serve, place the pudding in a basin with the cloth, open the cloth, and invert it onto a plate.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
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