Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
White Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Mix the chopped suet, toasted oatmeal, boiled onions, pepper, and salt together well.
Fill the sausage casings with the mixture.
Cook and store
Boil the filled casings for 1 hour, pricking them to prevent bursting.
Allow to cool and store in bran.
Serve
When ready to serve, parboil and then broil on a gridiron.
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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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
- Oatmeal
- Absorbs liquid and gives the filling body and a firm, sliceable texture.
- Onions
- Add moisture and savory sweetness to the filling.
The step that matters
Pricking the casings before boiling. Steam builds up inside the filling as it heats. Pricking the casings lets it escape, which helps prevent the casings from bursting during boiling.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper. 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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