Name: English Plum Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound butter; 1 pound seeded raisins; ½ pound finely chopped citron; 1 pound currants; 1 pound bread crumbs; ½ pound nuts; 1 pound brown flour; 1 pound finely chopped beef suet; 1 pound sugar; 1 tablespoon allspice; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; ½ tablespoon ginger; ½ tablespoon mace; ½ tablespoon nutmeg; 8 eggs; 2 chopped apples; 2 cups cider

Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Raisin + nutstop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together490 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs: Bind the mixture and add structure as the pudding sets.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the pudding body and a soft crumb.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Raisins: Add sweetness, chewiness and concentrated fruit flavor.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps give a dark, caramelized color.
Brown flour: Provides starch that helps structure the pudding as it steams.

The step that matters

Steam for the full time. Steaming slowly and steadily cooks the eggs and starches through without drying the pudding. Cutting the time short leaves the centre set poorly and dense, while the gentle, moist heat keeps the texture tender.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, raisin, bread, nuts, flour, beef, sugar):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, raisin, bread, nuts, flour, beef, sugar. 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.

English Plum Pudding