Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 bowl, combine chopped suet, molasses, raisins, flour, baking soda, and spices.
Pour hot water over the mixture and stir until well combined.
Steam and serve
Transfer to a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 3 hours until cooked through.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and a moist, sticky texture.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chew throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steaming the pudding for the full time. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the batter through without drying it out. Cutting the time short leaves the center raw and dense, while uneven water levels in the steamer can stop the pudding from cooking evenly.
“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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