Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Plum Pudding, Baked
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix the flour, currants, raisins, suet, and candied peel.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then moisten the dry mixture with them.
Add enough milk to achieve a very thick batter consistency.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish and bake for 2 to 2½ hours.
Once baked, turn it out, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and serve.
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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
-
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the dense batter together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the dry ingredients and add moisture and structure to the pudding.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and brings the batter to a thick, scoopable consistency.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- Currants
- Provide concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Achieving the thick batter consistency. The batter must be very thick so the pudding holds its shape and bakes through. Adding milk too freely produces a loose mixture that spreads and bakes dense and soggy in the centre.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, egg, milk, sugar. 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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