Name: College Puddings
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 2 ounces flour; ½ nutmeg, grated; ¼ teaspoon ginger; 3 ounces sugar (preferably pounded loaf sugar); 6 ounces suet, chopped fine; 6 ounces currants, well washed and picked; 1 glass brandy or white wine (optional); Butter or lard for frying; Flour for rolling (if frying); 1 ounce orange or citron, minced very fine (optional); 1 additional egg or 2 tablespoons milk (if baking)

Why it works: Nutmeg and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

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.

Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and set the structure as it cooks.
Flour: Gives the batter body so it holds its shape rather than spreading.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding rich and tender as it cooks.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and helps the surface brown.
Currants: Add chewy fruitiness and sweetness throughout the batter.

The step that matters

Fry the mixture until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly, which seals the surface and gives flavor, while the inside cooks through. Too cool a pan leaves it greasy and pale.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, nutmeg, ginger, sugar, brandy, butter):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Lemonfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, nutmeg, ginger, sugar, brandy, butter. 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.

College Puddings