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 large bowl, combine molasses, raisins, sour milk, flour, and baking soda.
Chop the beef suet and add it to the mixture along with the eggs, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until well combined.
Steam and serve
Pour the batter into a greased pudding mold.
Boil for 3 hours.
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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, depth and dark color to the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lighten the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that helps the pudding rise.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender as it cooks.
The step that matters
Keep the mold fully sealed while boiling. Boiling for 3 hours means water must not seep into the mold, or the pudding turns soggy and waterlogged. A tight seal also keeps the steam trapped so the pudding cooks evenly through.
“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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