Name: Christmas Pudding
Ingredients: 1 lb suet; 1 lb citron; ¼ lb bread crumbs; 1 pint sweet milk; 4 eggs; 1 lb raisins; 1 lemon peel, grated; ¼ lb flour; ¼ lb sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda

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).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour 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

Eggs: Bind the mixture and add structure as the pudding sets.
Suet: Adds richness and fat that keeps the pudding moist as it cooks.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the pudding a soft, tender body.
Flour: Provides structure so the pudding holds its shape after boiling.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic ingredients to lighten the texture as it cooks.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Boiling the pudding in water. The pudding must stay submerged and boil steadily for the full time. If water drops below the pudding or boils weakly, the centre cooks unevenly and the texture turns heavy and dense.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, egg, raisin, flour, sugar):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Datesfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, raisin, flour, 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.

Christmas Pudding