Name: Syrup Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 lb currants; 1 cup grated bread; 1 lb suet; 1 cup buttermilk; 1 tablespoon sugar; 2 tablespoons syrup; 4 teaspoons baking soda; 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Why it works: Buttermilk and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Syrup Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Chop the suet and wash and dry the currants.

Mix and steam

In a basin, mix the suet, currants, and all dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, mix the syrup and buttermilk, then stir into the dry mixture.
Pour the mixture into a greased mold and cover with greased paper.
Steam for 2 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.

Buttermilk + syruptop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together124 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in buttermilk to produce gas that lifts the pudding.
Buttermilk: Adds acidity and moisture, and activates the baking soda.
Grated bread: Adds body and soaks up moisture, giving a softer crumb.
Syrup: Adds sweetness and moisture to the pudding.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, bread, buttermilk, sugar, syrup, cinnamon):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, bread, buttermilk, sugar, syrup, cinnamon. 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.