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Dessert

Polenta Pudding

A sweet pudding made from milk, cornmeal, eggs, sugar, salt, and almond flavoring, served with a fruit‑juice sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Polenta Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine one quart milk, one cup (yellow or white) cornmeal, two lightly beaten eggs, half teaspoon salt, one cup sugar, and three teaspoons almond flavoring. Cook until stiff enough to put in mold.

Make the sauce

  1. Take cherry or raspberry juice.

  2. Thicken the juice with cornstarch to a cream consistency.

  3. Add salt to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve the pudding and sauce cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

134Calories
7 gProtein
6 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
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 Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal (in the method)
Its starch thickens as it cooks, setting the pudding firm enough to hold its mold shape.
Milk (in the method)
Provides the liquid that the cornmeal cooks into a thick, creamy base.
Eggs
Set as they cook, adding structure and body to the pudding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the pudding.
Cornstarch (in the method)
Thickens the fruit juice into a smooth, pourable sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the cornmeal mixture until stiff. Cornmeal starch only thickens fully when heated, and the eggs must cook without scrambling. Cooking until the mixture is stiff lets the starch set so the pudding holds its shape when unmolded.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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