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Dessert

Mks, Ketchum, Chicago

A baked sweet dish made with Indian meal, molasses, ginger, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Mks, Ketchum, Chicago

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Take seven heaping tablespoons of Indian meal, a half teaspoon of salt, two tablespoons of butter or sweet lard, three-fourths of a cup of molasses, and one teaspoon of ginger.

Mix and pour

  1. Pour into one quart of milk, boiling hot; mix well, and pour into a buttered dish.

Bake

  1. Just as you set it into the oven, stir in a teacup of cold water, which will produce the same effect as eggs.

  2. Stir a few times as it begins cooking, to prevent the meal from settling.

  3. Bake three-quarters of an hour in a dish that will not spread it out thin.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

311Calories
8 gProtein
20 gFat
27 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
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 Des Moines. Plymouth church. [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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Ginger + milktop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,519 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Butter + gingertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Indian meal
Thickens as it cooks in the hot milk, giving the pudding its body and set.
Milk
Provides the cooking liquid and richness that the meal swells and softens in.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a deep, dark flavor to the pudding.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, smoother texture.

The step that matters

Stirring as it begins cooking. Cornmeal is dense and sinks quickly in liquid. Without a few stirs early on, it settles to the bottom and cooks unevenly, leaving a thick, gritty layer under a thinner top.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, molasses):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, molasses. 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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