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Dessert

Hominy Date Pudding

A pudding made from hominy grits, milk, dates, sugar, salt, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Hominy Date Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine the salt, hominy grits, and milk in a double boiler.

  2. Cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.

  3. Add the sugar, dates, and vanilla, and mix well.

Serve

  1. Partially cool before serving.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Dates + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together218 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + datestop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Hominy grits
Thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body and texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the grits cook in, adding moisture and softness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the savory grits and dates.
Dates
Add concentrated sweetness, chewy texture, and a caramel-like flavor.

The step that matters

Cook for one hour, stirring occasionally. Grits thicken and can scorch or stick to the bottom of the pan if left unattended. A double boiler spreads gentle heat, and regular stirring keeps the starch evenly cooked and the pudding smooth.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, vanilla):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, vanilla. 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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