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 ↓
Cottage Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, suet, raisins, sugar, cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk, then add it to the well-beaten egg and mix well.
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until combined; the mixture should be stiff but moistened.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased Yorkshire pudding tin.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until cooked through.
Cut the pudding into squares 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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten framework that gives the pudding its structure.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the crumb tender and moist as it bakes.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas, helping the pudding rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to produce lift.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and promotes gentle browning during baking.
The step that matters
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until combined. Overmixing develops too much gluten from the flour, which makes the pudding tough and dense. Stop once the batter is just moistened and still stiff.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, milk, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Strawberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, milk, cream. 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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