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 ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the suet, molasses, raisins, sour milk, baking soda, and ground spices.
Gradually add flour to form a thick batter.
Dissolve the baking soda in a few drops of boiling water and beat it into the mixture.
Boil and serve
Tie the mixture in a floured bag, leaving room for it to swell.
Place the bag in a large pot of boiling water and boil for 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Serve with Hard Sauce or additional molasses.
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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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).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture to the batter.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the pudding rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the thick batter together while it steams.
The step that matters
Leaving room for the pudding to swell. The batter expands as the baking soda reacts and the pudding steams. If the bag is tied too tightly, the pressure can burst it or make the pudding dense.
“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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