Name: Suet Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped suet; 1 cup chopped raisins; 1 cup currants; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup sweet milk; 3 cups sifted flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; Ginger (optional for ginger pudding); Cinnamon, nutmeg, citron, and chopped almonds (optional for Christmas)

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Suet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

In a large bowl, combine the chopped suet, raisins, currants, molasses, and sweet milk.
In another bowl, mix the sifted flour and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until well combined.
If desired, add ginger for ginger pudding or cinnamon, nutmeg, citron, and chopped almonds for a Christmas variation.

Steam

Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold and steam for about 2 hours.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,324 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 rich as it steams.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses acid to lift and lighten the pudding.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy pieces that stay moist during steaming.

Swap the ginger

The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, currant, molasses, milk, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg):

Allspicefits better
Clovefits better
Cardamomfits better
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, molasses, milk, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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.