Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fat or Marrow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Mix and fill the mold
In a basin, break the eggs and beat them with sugar and flour until smooth.
Add the raisins and suet, mixing well.
Grease a pudding mold with butter and pour in the mixture.
Boil
Tie a cloth tightly over the mold and boil for 5 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the pudding as it cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds structure so the pudding holds its shape after boiling.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and adds flavor.
The step that matters
Tie the cloth tightly over the mold. A snug cover keeps boiling water from seeping into the mold and diluting the batter. It also holds the pudding's shape during the long cook, so the texture stays dense and even.
“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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