Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Beef Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Chop the beef into small pieces.
Mix the beef with suet and season with salt and pepper.
Prepare a pudding basin and line it with a layer of suet.
Assemble and steam
Fill the basin with the beef mixture and top with sliced potatoes.
Pour gravy over the mixture.
Cover with a lid or a cloth and steam for 2 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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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main savoury meat flavour and substance of the filling.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the meat moist and forms the lining of the pudding.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and bulk, softening as the pudding steams.
- Gravy
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour that soaks into the filling as it steams.
The step that matters
Steaming the pudding. Steam must be kept gently and steadily going for the full time. Low, steady heat cooks the beef through and makes the suet crust tender, while letting the water boil dry or the steam escape can leave the meat tough and the pudding underdone.
“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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