Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Plain Indian 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 the custard base
Mix the cornmeal with half of the milk.
In a separate pot, heat the remaining milk over hot water, adding the butter, ginger, and salt.
Once the milk is scalding hot, stir in the cornmeal mixture and cook for several minutes until smooth and thick.
Remove from heat and stir in the brown sugar.
Let it cool slightly, then beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gently fold them into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a pudding dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Serve with Fairy Butter or with sugar and cream.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk into a firm, spoonable pudding as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Set the pudding when baked and add richness; the whites lighten the batter.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens and the eggs set.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer texture and smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites trap air that gives lift; overmixing or stirring them in deflates the foam, leaving a denser pudding. Fold gently with a spatula so the batter keeps its volume.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Parsleyfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, 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.
More indian pudding recipes
You might also like
Ginger Cookies213 recipes
Ginger Cake93 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Soft Ginger Cake56 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.