Name: A Richer Raisin Pudding
Ingredients: 1 pound raisins, stoned; 10 ounces finely minced beef suet; ¾ pound flour; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ small nutmeg or grated rind of 1 lemon; 4 large eggs; milk, as needed to make a thick batter

Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

A Richer Raisin Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix the raisins, beef suet, flour, salt, nutmeg or lemon rind, and eggs.
Add milk gradually until the mixture forms a very thick batter.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake for a few minutes longer than the previous pudding.

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Flour: Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the pudding its body.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set as it bakes, giving structure.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Adding the milk gradually. Flour absorbs liquid over time, so adding milk slowly lets you stop at a very thick batter. Too much liquid at once makes the batter loose and the pudding dense or soggy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, beef, flour, egg, milk):

Cinnamonfits about as well
Nutmegthe original
Jalapenofits less well
Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, beef, flour, egg, milk. 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.

More raisin pudding recipes

Steamed 49 Baked 27 Molasses 21 Boiled 9 Orange 6 Apple 5 See all 88 →

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Spice Cake344 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

A Richer Raisin Pudding