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Dessert

Saffron Pudding

A suet and flour pudding flavored with saffron, ginger, cognac, and cream, boiled for about three hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Saffron and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 418 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Saffron Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Mix the suet with the flour (or flour and crumbled French roll).

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl, then add the cream, cognac, saffron, and ginger.

  3. Combine the egg mixture with the flour mixture until well blended.

Cook

  1. Place the mixture in a floured cloth, tie it tightly, leaving room for expansion.

  2. Boil the pudding in water for nearly 3 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Saffron + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together418 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + saffrontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together447 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + saffrontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together243 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Flour and egg 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

What each ingredient does

Kidney suet
Melts during boiling to add richness and a moist, tender crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten structure that holds the pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during cooking to give the pudding structure.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and moisture, producing a richer, softer texture.
Cognac
Adds aroma and flavor depth to the pudding.
Saffron
Contributes its distinctive floral aroma and golden colour.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth. The pudding must be wrapped tightly enough to hold its shape but with room to expand, since the batter rises as it heats. Too tight a cloth can burst or squeeze the pudding, while too loose a cloth lets water soak in and make it soggy.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, cream, saffron):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, cream, saffron. 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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