Why it works: Apple and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,918 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Fruit Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
Mix the chopped suet and flour in a bowl.
Add water and salt to form a dough.
Knead the dough until smooth, then roll it out.
Fill and wrap
Place the chosen fruit in the center of the dough.
Gather the edges of the dough over the fruit and tie it securely in a cloth.
Alternatively, place the filled dough in a basin and cover tightly with a cloth.
Boil
Boil the pudding in water for about 1 hour.
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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Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,918 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Beef + appletop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + appletop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,077 recipes
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the dough tender and moist as it cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the dough's structure, holding the fruit inside during boiling.
The step that matters
Tying or covering the pudding. The cloth must be tied or covered tightly so water cannot seep in and make the dough soggy, and the pudding keeps its shape while it boils.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, apple):
- Raisinfits better
- Pearfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, apple. 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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