Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix flour, suet, eggs, baking powder, nutmeg, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
Add enough water to make a thick batter.
Boil and serve
Place the batter in a cloth and tie it securely.
Boil in water for 3 hours.
Serve with sauce.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Nutmeg + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the pudding as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds richness and a moist, tender texture to the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help give the pudding its set structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the pudding rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth securely. If the cloth is loose, water can seep into the pudding during boiling, making it soggy and waterlogged. A snug, well-sealed cloth keeps the batter moist inside while it cooks.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar):
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar. 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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