Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Suet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine chopped suet, sweet milk, flour, molasses, chopped raisins, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam the pudding
Steam the pudding for 3 hours.
Make the sauce
For the sauce, melt butter in a saucepan.
Stir in flour dissolved in water, nutmeg, and brown sugar.
Add boiling water and a pinch of salt, then cook for 10 minutes in a double boiler.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Suet
- Melts into the batter during steaming, keeping the pudding moist and tender.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form a batter.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and dark color to the pudding.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to release gas, helping the pudding rise.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam the pudding for the full 3 hours. Steam cooks the pudding gently and evenly through the mold. Letting the steam drop or the water boil dry can leave the pudding dense, underbaked in the center, or poorly risen.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, molasses, raisin, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, molasses, raisin, cinnamon, 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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