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
Mix the batter
Mix the suet, molasses, raisins, sour milk, baking soda, and ground spices.
Add flour to create a thick batter.
Dissolve the baking soda in a few drops of boiling water and beat well 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.
-
Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
-
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 cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep flavor with some moisture.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the pudding rises and turns tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the thick batter together while it steams.
The step that matters
Tie the bag with room to swell. The batter rises as it steams, so leaving space in the floured bag keeps it from bursting or becoming dense. Dissolving the baking soda first spreads the rising gas evenly through the batter.
“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.
More suet pudding recipes
You might also like
Molasses Sauce32 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.