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Dessert

Carrot Pudding

A steamed pudding made with grated carrot, potato, suet, raisins, currants, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,107 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Carrot Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine grated carrot, grated potato, brown sugar, suet, raisins, currants, egg, chopped peel, spices, salt, and baking soda. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased mold.

Steam

  1. Steam the pudding for 3 hours.

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.

  1. Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  3. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Potato + raisintop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Carrot + raisintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together174 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Grated carrot
Adds moisture and body, giving the pudding its soft, dense texture.
Grated potato
Adds starch and moisture, helping the pudding hold together and stay tender.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and molasses flavour, and moisture that keeps the pudding dark and soft.
Suet
Adds fat that makes the pudding rich and moist as it steams.
Egg
Binds the ingredients together so the pudding sets firm after steaming.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic ingredients to lighten the pudding and help it rise.

The step that matters

Steam the pudding for 3 hours. Steaming gently cooks the batter through with steady moist heat, so it sets without drying out. Keeping the water at a steady simmer and topping it up matters, because low or uneven heat leaves the pudding dense or undercooked in the centre.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, potato, sugar, raisin, egg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, potato, sugar, raisin, egg. 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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