Why it works: Molasses and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,928 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Boiled Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the scalded cornmeal, molasses, cinnamon, salt, and beaten eggs (or baking soda), and mix until you have a thick batter.
Mold and boil
Pour the batter into a mold.
Boil the mold for several 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 + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cinnamon + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,879 recipes
Cinnamon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,058 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
- Scalded cornmeal swells and thickens, giving the pudding its body and structure as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, moisture, and a deep, rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set firm as the pudding cooks.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, aromatic spice that complements the molasses.
The step that matters
Boil the mold for several hours. Long, steady cooking lets the cornmeal starch fully gelatinize and set the batter into a firm, sliceable pudding. Cutting the time short leaves it loose and under-set.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, egg):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Allspicefits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, 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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