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 ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a mixing bowl, combine sour milk and molasses.
Dissolve baking soda in warm water and stir it into the mixture.
Add flour, suet, salt, cinnamon, and raisins; mix well.
Steam and serve
Pour the batter into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2½ hours.
Serve with hard sauce.
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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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness to the batter.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture, and its acidity helps the baking soda react.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of chewy sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in warm water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it mixes evenly into the batter. Clumps can leave pockets of bitterness or uneven rising, while the acidic sour milk and molasses need to meet it throughout the batter.
“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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