Why it works: Beef and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Marmalade Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the suet, breadcrumbs, baking powder, and a pinch of salt together.
Beat the eggs.
Add the marmalade, mixing well.
Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients.
Beat the mixture lightly.
Add a little milk if it is too stiff.
Steam and serve
Turn the mixture into a greased basin or mold.
Cover with greased paper.
Steam for 2 to 2.5 hours.
Serve with a suitable sauce.
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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Beef + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + beeftop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together960 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Orange + eggtop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Orange and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,696 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding as it steams.
- Breadcrumbs
- Provide the bulk and body that hold the pudding together.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the steamed pudding moist and rich.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lightens the pudding and helps it rise.
- Orange marmalade
- Adds sweetness, orange flavour and moisture to the pudding.
The step that matters
Add the milk only if needed. Breadcrumbs soak up liquid gradually, so adding milk too early can make the batter loose and heavy. Add it only when the mixture is too stiff to combine, then beat lightly so the batter stays light.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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