Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Indian Corn Meal Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Combine 2 pints of hot water, 1 teacup corn meal, and 1 teaspoon salt; cook thoroughly.
Add 1 quart rich sweet milk, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 scant cup sugar, and 3 eggs well beaten together with the sugar.
Add 2 cups seeded raisins; mix all together.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven for three hours, keeping covered for two hours.
Stir three or four times during the first hour to keep raisins from settling.
Serve with cream flavored to taste.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Corn | 1/2 cup kernels (82g) | 77 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Raisin + corntop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together180 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn meal
- Cooked into the hot water to form the thick body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a custard-like pudding as it bakes.
- Sweet milk (in the method)
- Adds moisture and richness, softening the cornmeal as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the pudding.
- Seeded raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness distributed through the pudding.
The step that matters
Stir during the first hour of baking. Raisins are denser than the batter and sink, so stirring a few times early in baking keeps them suspended, while the batter is still thin enough to move them.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, corn, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, corn, 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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