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 ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, mix the suet or butter, molasses, sweet milk, raisins, flour, baking powder, and spices until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam and serve
Steam the pudding for 3 hours.
Serve with a sauce of your choice.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the batter so the pudding rises and turns light.
- Suet or butter
- Adds fat that gives the pudding a rich, tender crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter flavor.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and binds the batter into a pourable mixture.
The step that matters
Steam the pudding for 3 hours. Steaming cooks the pudding gently with moist heat, so it sets without drying. Water must keep simmering around the mold, since a pot that boils dry lets the pudding scorch or stay raw in the center.
“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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