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 ↓
Plain Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a mixing bowl, combine suet, flour, milk, salt, and baking powder.
If desired, substitute baking powder with 2 eggs.
Pour the mixture into a pudding mold.
Cook and serve
Boil or steam for 2 hours.
Serve with jam or syrup.
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.
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds fat that makes the pudding rich and tender.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and keeps the batter soft.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during cooking, helping the pudding rise and become light.
The step that matters
Boil or steam for 2 hours. Gentle, steady heat sets the batter evenly from edge to center. If the water boils dry or the heat drops too low, the pudding can cook unevenly or turn out heavy and undercooked in the middle.
“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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