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Suet Pudding or Dumplings

A suet-based pudding or dumplings made with suet, flour, breadcrumbs, eggs, milk, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 or Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the dough

  1. Combine the chopped suet, flour, bread crumbs, and salt in a basin.

  2. Beat the eggs in a plate, then add the milk gradually, mixing well.

  3. Pour the egg mixture into the basin and stir until combined.

Shape and boil

  1. Divide the mixture into 6 portions and tie each in a floured cloth.

  2. Boil the dumplings for 1 hour.

Finish in a mold

  1. Add 1 more egg, a little more milk, and 2 ounces of suet.

  2. Boil in an earthenware mold for 2 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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

Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding rich and tender as it cooks.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help set it as it cooks.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and keeps the dough soft.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and add bulk, giving a lighter, softer texture.

The step that matters

Tying the floured cloths. The flour dusting stops the cloth sticking to the dough. The cloth should be tied snugly but not tightly, because the dough swells as it cooks and a tight tie squeezes it into a dense pudding.

“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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