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 ↓
Steamed Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, mix the shredded suet, flour, and salt thoroughly.
Add enough tepid milk or water to form a stiff dough.
Transfer the mixture into a greased basin.
Cook
Steam the pudding for 2 hours.
Alternatively, you can tie it in a floured cloth and boil for 1 hour, but steaming is preferred for a lighter texture.
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).
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
- Shredded suet
- Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the stiff dough together when steamed.
The step that matters
Add enough tepid milk or water to form a stiff dough. Too much liquid makes the dough slack, so the pudding loses its shape and turns heavy. Stop adding liquid once the dough holds together firmly.
“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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