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 suet, raisins, molasses, and sweet milk in a large bowl.
Add baking soda, cream of tartar, flour, and salt, then mix well.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2 hours until cooked through.
Serve with vinegar sauce.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses and cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity that activates the baking soda for rising.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and its acidity helps the leavening work.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
The step that matters
Steam for 2 hours until cooked through. Steaming gently and steadily cooks the batter evenly without drying it out. The water level must be kept up, because a pot that boils dry can leave the pudding undercooked or scorched.
“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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