Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine stale bread crumbs, flour, chopped beef suet, and salt.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, mixing until a smooth paste forms.
If desired, fold in dried fruit.
Transfer the mixture to a greased pudding mold.
Cover and boil for 3.5 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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Beef + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,032 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 mixture and add structure as the pudding sets.
- Beef suet
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a tender texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together.
- Stale bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and eggs to form a body that stays moist.
- Milk
- Hydrates the dry ingredients into a smooth, pourable paste.
The step that matters
Mixing the eggs and milk into a smooth paste. Stirring until the batter is evenly hydrated keeps dry pockets out of the pudding. Overmixing after the flour is wet can develop gluten and make the texture dense, so mix only until smooth.
“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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