Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Meat Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cloth and basin
Boil a large saucepan of water.
Dip the middle of a pudding cloth in boiling water. Wring the cloth out. Sprinkle the cloth with flour.
Have a string ready.
Grease a 1-pint pudding basin.
Season and prepare the filling
On a plate, mix 1 dessert spoon of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper. Cut the meat into squares. Dip the meat squares in the seasoning.
Make the suet paste
In a basin, mix flour, baking powder, and the remaining salt.
Remove the skin from the suet. Cut the suet into small pieces. Chop the suet finely.
Mix the suet with the flour.
Make a light paste with the water using a wooden spoon.
Turn the paste onto a floured board.
Assemble and boil
Cut off one-third of the paste for the top. Roll out the larger piece to twice the size of the top of the pudding. Line the basin with the larger piece.
Add the seasoned meat and some water for gravy.
Roll out the smaller piece. Wet the edge of the basin. Place the top on the basin.
Tie the cloth over the basin and secure the corners.
Place the pudding in boiling water, keeping it covered and boiling quickly for 2 to 3 hours.
Carefully remove the string and cloth. Turn it out onto a hot dish and serve hot.
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 + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the suet paste that encloses the filling.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the crust rich and tender as it steams.
- Beef steak or skirt
- Provides the meat filling, which becomes tender during long gentle boiling.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lightens the paste as it cooks.
The step that matters
Keep the pudding covered and boiling quickly. The water must stay at a steady rapid boil so the pudding steams through evenly; if it drops, the crust turns heavy and the meat cooks unevenly.
“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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