Name: Graham Pudding
Ingredients: 2½ cups graham flour; 1 cup milk; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup currants or seeded raisins; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a large bowl, combine graham flour, milk, molasses, currants or raisins, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Steam and serve

Steam for 2 hours.
Serve with lemon or wine sauce.

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Molasses + curranttop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,817 recipes
Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,243 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Flour and milk 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

Graham flour: Provides the bulk and structure of the pudding, with a coarse, wholesome texture.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, depth and a dark color to the pudding.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the pudding as it steams.
Milk: Adds moisture that hydrates the flour into a pourable batter.
Currants or seeded raisins: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy bursts of fruit throughout the pudding.