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Steak and Kidney Pudding

A steamed pudding made with flour, suet, baking powder, steak, bacon, kidney, onion, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Steak and Kidney Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the crust

  1. Chop suet finely and mix with flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt.

  2. Make a paste with cold water, roll it out, and line a greased pudding mold.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut steak into strips about 1.5 inches long and 1 inch wide.

  2. Place a piece of bacon on each strip, followed by a piece of kidney, and roll them up.

  3. Fill the basin with the rolls, sprinkle in chopped onion, salt, and pepper to taste.

Steam and serve

  1. Fill three-quarters of the way with cold water, cover with a piece of paste, and top with greased paper.

  2. Steam for three hours, then turn out of the basin and serve very hot.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the bulk of the suet crust that encloses the filling.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the crust tender and rich as it steams.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking so the crust rises and stays light.
Steak
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during long steaming.
Beef kidney
Adds a deep, savory meaty flavor to the filling.
Bacon
Contributes fat and salty, smoky flavor that moistens the lean meats.

The step that matters

Sealing the pudding under water. The cover of paste and greased paper must seal the basin well while steaming. Gaps let steam escape or water seep in, leaving the crust soggy or the filling watery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, beef, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, pepper. 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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