Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Steak Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the crust
Make a crust by mixing the shredded suet and flour with cold water and a little salt until stiff.
Assemble and boil
Season the steaks with pepper and salt.
Assemble the pudding by placing the seasoned steaks in the crust, similar to making an apple pudding.
Tie the pudding in a cloth and place it in boiling water.
Boil a small pudding for 3 hours and a large one for 5 hours.
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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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and beef barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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
- Provides fat that keeps the crust moist and tender as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the crust, setting firm when cooked.
- Beef or mutton steaks
- Supply the meat filling, which becomes tender through long, gentle boiling.
The step that matters
Boiling the pudding for the full time. The crust and meat need a long, steady boil to cook through and become tender. Pudding cloths must stay submerged in boiling water, or the crust can dry out and the pudding can cook unevenly.
“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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