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Dessert

Graham Pudding

A steamed pudding made with sour milk, molasses, raisins, Graham flour, spices, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix sour milk, molasses, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl.

  2. Dissolve baking soda in a small amount of water and add to the mixture.

  3. Stir in raisins, Graham flour, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.

Steam

  1. Pour the batter into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam the pudding for 2 hours.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the pudding rises and turns tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and gives the pudding its deep flavor.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as the pudding sets during steaming.
Graham flour
Provides the bulk and structure of the pudding, with a coarse, nutty texture.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must dissolve fully in the liquid before mixing so it reacts evenly with the acidic sour milk and molasses. Unevenly distributed soda leaves pockets that are bitter or fail to rise, so the pudding's texture suffers.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, molasses, egg, butter, raisin, flour, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, molasses, egg, butter, raisin, flour, clove. 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.

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