Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs.
Mix the yolks with the mincemeat and beat well for 3-4 minutes.
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Alternately add a little flour and a little beaten egg white to the mixture, beating well after each addition.
Steam and serve
Grease a good-sized mold with butter and pour the pudding mixture into it, leaving room for it to swell.
Cover the mold firmly and plunge it into boiling water.
Boil rapidly for 5 hours.
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 + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Egg whites add lightness and help the pudding hold its structure as it cooks.
- Flour
- Provides structure so the mixture sets into a firm, sliceable pudding.
- Rich mincemeat
- Adds moisture, sweetness and spiced flavor throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Leaving room in the mold. The pudding swells as it cooks, so the mold must have space to expand. Filling it too full can cause the mixture to overflow or cook unevenly.
“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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