Why it works: Meat and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Meat Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Remove excess fat from the meat and cut it into 2-inch pieces.
Season the meat well with coarse sea salt and pepper.
Place a piece of butter in the center of the meat mixture.
If using, add a little jelly gravy from cold roast meat for flavor.
Boil and serve
Ensure the crust is securely closed and tied over with a cloth.
Boil the pudding for three hours or more.
Carefully remove the pudding from the pot to avoid breaking the crust.
Let it stand for a minute or two before removing the cloth.
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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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- Provides the main body and savory flavor of the pudding, and sets firm as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, melting into the meat as the pudding cooks.
The step that matters
Carefully remove the pudding from the pot. The crust is delicate after long boiling and can tear if handled roughly. Letting the pudding rest briefly lets it firm slightly before the cloth is removed, reducing the risk of breaking it.
“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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