Name: Pudding
Ingredients: Nutmeg; Ginger; Allspice; Butter; 2 ounces suet, chopped very fine; 4 ounces currants

Why it works: Nutmeg and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix together nutmeg, ginger, and allspice.
Butter a dish large enough to hold the pudding mixture.

Assemble and bake

Pour the pudding mixture into the prepared dish.
Sprinkle the chopped suet over the top of the pudding.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Add currants to enhance the flavor.

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.

Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,331 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,620 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,359 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet: Adds richness and a tender, moist crumb as it melts during baking.
Currants: Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the pudding.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and keeps the pudding from sticking to the dish.
Nutmeg: Adds warm, sweet aroma to the pudding.
Ginger: Adds warm, spicy aroma to the pudding.
Allspice: Adds warm, complex aroma to the pudding.