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Dessert

Corn-meal and Fig Pudding

A baked pudding made from cornmeal, figs, molasses, milk, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Corn-meal and Fig Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Cook the cornmeal with 4 cups of milk in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Once thickened, stir in the molasses, figs, and salt.

  3. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 hours or more.

  3. When partly cooked, add the remaining milk or cream without stirring.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Fig + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together66 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Fig + molassestop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together319 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn meal
Thickens the milk into a porridge-like base that gives the pudding its body.
Eggs
Set as the pudding bakes, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, deep color, and moisture to the pudding.
Figs
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the pudding.
Milk
Provides the liquid that cooks the cornmeal and keeps the pudding moist.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs after cooling. Eggs added to very hot cornmeal can scramble and turn lumpy. Cooling the mixture first lets the eggs blend smoothly and set evenly during baking.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, corn, molasses, milk):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, corn, molasses, milk. 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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