Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Plain Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Stir together the molasses and sugar.
Slowly pour in the boiling water.
Steam the mixture for three hours.
Serve
Serve with sauce.
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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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding moist and tender.
- Boiling water
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the mixture and turns it into a moist, steamed pudding.
The step that matters
Slowly pour in the boiling water.. Adding the hot liquid gradually while stirring lets the molasses and sugar dissolve evenly, which helps prevent lumps and a dense, uneven texture.
“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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