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Dessert

Plain Indian Pudding

A baked or boiled pudding made from Indian meal, molasses, salt, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Plain Indian Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix the Indian meal, molasses, and salt.

  2. In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter until warm.

  3. Stir the warm milk mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased pan.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour, or until set.

  3. Alternatively, boil the pudding in a cloth for 2 to 3 hours, ensuring the cloth is tied loosely.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Indian meal
Cornmeal forms the body of the pudding and absorbs the liquid as it sets.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and a deep, caramel-like flavour.
Milk
Supplies the liquid that hydrates the meal and sets into a custard-like texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender crumb.

The step that matters

Stirring the warm milk into the dry ingredients. Cornmeal needs time and liquid to hydrate and thicken. Stirring until well combined prevents dry pockets and lumps, so the pudding sets evenly in the oven.

“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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