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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Combine grated carrot, grated potato, flour, suet, sugar, raisins, currants, and grated nutmeg in a large bowl, and mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Transfer the mixture to a pudding mold or heatproof dish.
Boil in a pot of water for three 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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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Carrot + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,424 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the body that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the pudding its dark color.
- Grated potato
- Adds moisture and starch that help bind and soften the pudding.
The step that matters
Boil in a pot of water for three hours. The pudding must be sealed in its mold and kept at a steady simmer with water level maintained, because water that drops or boils too hard can seep in or dry out the pudding and uneven heat leads to a dense or soggy texture.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, potato, flour, sugar, raisin, nutmeg):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, potato, flour, sugar, raisin, nutmeg. 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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