Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Pour scalding milk over cornmeal and stir well.
Add molasses, chopped suet, salt, and beaten eggs; mix thoroughly.
Bag and boil
Dip a cloth bag in cold water, wring it dry, and spread with lard or butter.
Pour the batter into the bag and tie it tightly, leaving room for expansion.
Plunge the bag into boiling water and boil for 3 to 4 hours, turning occasionally.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,879 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the pudding and thickens as it cooks, giving it body.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep, caramel-like flavor.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
- Milk
- Hydrates the cornmeal so it swells and forms a smooth, thick batter.
The step that matters
Leave room in the bag for expansion. The batter swells as the cornmeal absorbs liquid and heat expands it. A tightly filled bag with no room can burst or squeeze out the pudding during boiling.
“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
Molasses Cookies96 recipes
Molasses Cake90 recipes
Molasses Sponge Cake9 recipes
White Cake431 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.