Name: Gingerbread Pudding
Ingredients: ½ lb treacle; ½ lb flour; 1 lb bread crumbs; ½ lb suet, finely chopped; 1 oz mixed peel, chopped; ½ cup milk, or as required; 1 egg (optional); 1 teaspoon grated ginger; 1 teaspoon baking powder

Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Gingerbread Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

In a bowl, mix the flour, bread crumbs, ginger, and baking powder.
Add the chopped suet and mixed peel to the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the treacle and milk, then pour over the dry mixture and mix well until moist.

Cook

Boil or steam for 2 to 4 hours, or bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

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.

Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 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

Treacle: Adds dark sweetness and a rich, moist texture along with its characteristic flavour.
Bread crumbs: Provide the bulk of the pudding and absorb liquid to give it body.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
Flour: Gives structure so the mixture holds together when cooked.
Baking powder: Releases gas during cooking to lighten the pudding's crumb.