Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Chop the suet finely.
Mix the suet with flour, beaten eggs, salt, and enough milk to form a batter.
Pour the mixture into a lined basin.
Boil and serve
Boil for four hours.
Slice and broil the pudding before serving.
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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 moist and gives it a tender, rich texture.
- Flour
- Provides the starch structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set firm when cooked.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and loosens the mixture into a pourable batter.
The step that matters
Mixing the batter to the right consistency. Enough milk must be added so the flour hydrates fully and the batter pours easily. Too little liquid gives a stiff, dense pudding, while too much makes it loose and weak in structure.
“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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