Name: Plum Pudding
Ingredients: 4 lb flour; 4 lb currants; 4 lb sultanas; 4 oz butter; 3 eggs; grated rind of 1 lemon; a little nutmeg; 1 teaspoon baking powder

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

Mix the baking powder with the flour.
Rub in the butter.
Add the currants, sultanas, grated lemon rind, nutmeg, and beaten eggs.

Cook and serve

Put the mixture into a buttered basin.
Boil or steam for 4 hours.
Serve with white 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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour: Forms the main structure of the pudding as the mixture sets.
Butter: Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender texture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture together and help it set when cooked.
Baking powder: Releases gas during cooking so the pudding rises and lightens.
Currants: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout.
Sultanas: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout.