Name: Black Caps, or College Puddings
Ingredients: 3 eggs, beaten; 2 ounces flour; ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg; 1 ounce candied Zemora-peel, chopped; ¼ teaspoon grated ginger; 6 ounces beef suet, chopped fine; 6 ounces currants, well washed and picked

Why it works: Nutmeg and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Black Caps, or College Puddings

Ingredients

3 eggs, beaten
2 ounces flour
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 ounce candied Zemora-peel, chopped
¼ teaspoon grated ginger
6 ounces beef suet, chopped fine
6 ounces currants, well washed and picked

Directions

Make the batter

Combine the beaten yolks and whites of the eggs with flour, nutmeg, candied Zemora‑peel, and ginger in a basin; mix well to form a smooth batter.
Add the chopped beef suet and currants to the batter and mix until combined.

Boil and serve

Boil the mixture in a cloth for 1 hour, or in small cups tied in a cloth for 45 minutes.
Serve with melted butter flavored with white wine or a little rum.

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.

Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Nutmeg + beeftop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,495 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Egg and flour 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set during boiling.
Flour: Gives the batter body so the pudding holds its shape.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Currants: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture in a cloth. The cloth must be tied firmly so the pudding keeps its shape and does not take in too much water. Boiling gently and steadily cooks the eggs and flour into a set, cohesive pudding.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, nutmeg, ginger, beef):

Raisinfits better
Lemonfits better
Limefits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, nutmeg, ginger, beef. 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.

Ginger Cookies213 recipes

Ginger Cake93 recipes

Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes

Red Currant Jelly65 recipes

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Black Caps, or College Puddings