Name: Steamed Pudding
Ingredients: ½ cup chopped salt pork; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1 cup sweet milk; 1 large cup chopped raisins; 3 cups flour

Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

Steamed Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine the chopped salt pork, baking soda, sugar, cream of tartar, sweet milk, chopped raisins, and flour in a large bowl and mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Steam and serve

Steam for four hours.
Serve with whipped cream or the 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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,386 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 it sets.
Baking soda: Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the batter so it reacts with the baking soda to help it rise.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb.
Sweet milk: Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
Chopped raisins: Add sweetness, chewy texture and moisture throughout the pudding.