Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the pudding
Heat the milk in a saucepan.
Sift in the cornmeal gradually, stirring to avoid lumps.
Add salt and sugar, mixing well.
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Bake and serve
Place the dish in a larger pan filled with water.
Bake slowly at 300°F (150°C) for 2.5 to 3 hours.
Serve with hard sauce, cream, or crushed fruit.
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 stiff, spoonable pudding as it cooks slowly.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens and that gently sets during baking.
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, deep sweetness and a caramel-like flavor during the long bake.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning on the surface during the long bake.
- Salt
- Balances the sweetness and sharpens the molasses flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the cornmeal gradually. Cornmeal dropped into hot milk in clumps forms lumps that stay in the pudding. Sifting it in slowly while stirring lets each grain hydrate and thicken the milk evenly.
“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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