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 ↓
Carrot-potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, suet, sugar, mashed carrots, mashed potatoes, raisins, and bread crumbs.
Add spice, flavoring, and peel if desired. Gradually add water until the mixture is not too stiff and not too moist.
Steam and serve
Rub a basin with dripping to prevent sticking.
Pour the mixture into the basin and 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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + carrottop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,029 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the pudding its browned, rich flavor.
- Carrots
- Add moisture and body, along with natural sweetness.
- Potatoes
- Add moisture and body, helping the pudding stay soft and tender.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and help give the pudding a firmer, more cohesive texture.
The step that matters
Adding the water. Water is added gradually because too much makes the batter loose and heavy, while too little leaves it stiff and dry. Adjusting slowly lets you reach the right consistency before steaming.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, carrot, raisin, bread):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, carrot, raisin, bread. 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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