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 No. 2
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
In a large bowl, mix the molasses, dried currants, sweet milk, flour, chopped suet, baking soda, raisins, salt, and spices until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam and serve
Steam the pudding for 2 hours.
Serve with a liquid 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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Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Milk and flour 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pudding as it sets during steaming.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses acidity to lighten the pudding's crumb.
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, dark color, and moisture with a deep flavor.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and helps bind the batter together.
The step that matters
Steam the pudding for 2 hours. Steaming must be gentle and continuous so the pudding cooks through evenly and stays moist. Letting the water boil dry or drop too low leaves the centre dense or undercooked.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, flour, raisin):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Datesfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, flour, raisin. 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.
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