Name: Suet Pudding or Dumplings
Ingredients: 6 ounces suet, finely chopped; 6 ounces all-purpose flour; 2 ounces bread crumbs; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 large eggs; 6 tablespoons milk; Flour for dusting

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

six dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

Combine the chopped suet, flour, bread crumbs, and salt in a basin. Stir well.
Beat the eggs in a separate plate and mix in the milk.
Gradually add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until well combined.

Shape and boil

Divide the mixture into six portions and shape into dumplings. Tie each dumpling in a cloth dusted with flour.
Boil the dumplings in water for one hour.

Make the pudding

For a pudding, add one more egg, a little more milk, and two ounces of suet.
Boil in an earthenware mold for two 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.

Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 moist as it cooks.
All-purpose flour: Provides the starch and structure that hold the pudding together.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set firm when boiled.
Bread crumbs: Add body and soak up moisture to give a tender texture.

The step that matters

Gradually add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Adding the liquid slowly and stirring well prevents lumps and uneven moisture, so the dough mixes evenly and holds together when shaped and boiled.

“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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Suet Pudding or Dumplings