Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
To Malce Oatmeal Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dry the minced suet well by the fire before mixing.
Combine the suet, oatmeal, minced onions, pepper, and salt.
Cook and serve
Fill the mixture into pudding bags or casings.
Boil the puddings, pricking them with a large needle to prevent bursting.
Serve warm.
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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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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- Oatmeal
- Forms the bulk of the pudding and gives it a hearty, absorbent texture.
- Onions
- Add savory flavor and moisture to the mixture.
The step that matters
Pricking the puddings before boiling. Steam builds up inside the sealed bags or casings as they cook. Pricking them with a large needle lets the steam escape, which helps prevent the puddings from bursting.
“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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