Why it works: Raisin and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,180 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓
Baked Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Crumble the bread into small pieces.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and combine with the milk or water.
Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set and golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it bakes.
- Bread crumbs
- Provide the bulk and soft body that the pudding is built around.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich in texture.
- Baking soda
- Releases gas that helps the pudding rise and lighten.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown at the surface.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, raisin, sugar, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, raisin, sugar, milk, egg. 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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