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Dessert

Black Pudding

A sweet molasses pudding made with flour, cinnamon, vinegar, butter, sour milk, soda, sugar, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Black Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine the black molasses, butter, sour milk, flour, soda, cinnamon, and cloves.

  2. Steam the mixture for one hour.

  3. Place the steamed mixture in the oven for five minutes.

Make the sauce

  1. For the sauce, combine the sugar and butter, beating to a creamy consistency.

  2. Add the egg and vinegar to the sauce, and cook it in a rice boiler.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

900Calories
28 gProtein
26 gFat
137 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cinnamon + teatop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
Black molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and deep flavor of the pudding.
Soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Sour milk
Supplies moisture and acidity that activates the soda for lift.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness in the pudding and a rich, creamy body to the sauce.
Egg
Thickens the sauce and helps bind it as the proteins set with gentle heat.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg into the sauce. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the sauce gets too hot or cooks too fast it can curdle or turn grainy. Gentle, steady cooking keeps it smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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