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Dessert

English Pudding

A steamed pudding made with milk, flour, molasses, raisins, suet, eggs, and leavening agents.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin 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 ↓

English Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine the milk, flour, molasses, eggs, raisins, suet, cream of tartar, and baking soda, and mix until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  3. Steam the pudding for several hours until set, or boil it if preferred.

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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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 batter and help set the pudding structure as it cooks.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets the pudding as it cooks.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Cream of tartar
Acidic partner to baking soda, helping the pudding rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.

The step that matters

Steaming until set. Steaming gently and for a long time cooks the eggs and flour into a firm, even structure without drying the pudding. Lifting the lid too often or letting the water boil dry can leave the pudding uneven or underdone 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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