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Dessert

Indian Pudding

A sweet pudding made with milk, flour, Indian meal, molasses, raisins, suet, ginger, cinnamon, lemon peel, salt, and eggs, baked for three hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Indian Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine one quart of milk, four heaping tablespoons of Indian meal, one tablespoon of flour, one teaspoon of ginger, one teaspoon of cinnamon, one lemon peel, one teaspoon salt, two eggs, and one cup molasses.

  2. Bake for three hours, not in too hot an oven.

  3. Boil the meal in half the quantity of milk, one cup raisins, and one cup suet (not too full).

  4. Add the remainder of milk before the eggs.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

822Calories
29 gProtein
15 gFat
145 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.). 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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs and meal set into a pudding.
Indian meal (in the method)
Cornmeal that thickens the mixture and gives the pudding its body.
Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its firm structure.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, deep color and a rich, caramel-like flavor.
Suet
Adds fat that enriches the texture and keeps the pudding moist.
Flour
Helps thicken the mixture and gives it a smoother body.

The step that matters

Bake slowly, not in a hot oven. Eggs and milk set gently at moderate heat. A hot oven can overcook the eggs, causing curdling, cracks and a tough, grainy texture. The long, gentle bake lets the meal and eggs firm evenly into a smooth pudding.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, ginger, molasses, raisin, egg, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Orangefits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, ginger, molasses, raisin, egg, cinnamon. 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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