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 ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix and sift the dry ingredients together.
Add the suet and raisins, and mix well.
Stir in the molasses, sour milk, and egg.
Steam
Turn the mixture into a greased mold, cover it, and steam for 14 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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Flour + raisintop 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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Cinnamon + milktop 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding tender and rich as it cooks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that helps the pudding rise.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda for lift.
The step that matters
Covered steaming of the mold. Keeping the mold covered traps steam around the pudding so it cooks through gently and stays moist. Letting steam escape can leave the outside dry while the center remains underdone.
“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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