Why it works: Molasses and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Berry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, mix molasses, baking soda, cold water, and salt.
Add berries and enough flour to form a thin dough.
Pour the mixture into a pot and boil steadily for about 2.5 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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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses' acidity to produce gas, lightening the pudding's texture.
- Berries
- Add fruit flavor, moisture, and color to the pudding.
- Flour
- Gives the mixture body and structure so it forms a thin dough.
The step that matters
Boil steadily for the full time. Long, steady boiling cooks the flour and dough through and sets the pudding's texture. Letting the water boil too weakly or stopping early can leave the pudding dense or undercooked in the center.
“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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