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Dessert

A Baked Indian Pudding

A baked pudding made with butter, molasses, milk, Indian meal, eggs, spices, and lemon peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

A Baked Indian Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Cut up a quarter of a pound of butter and mix it with a pint of molasses, warming them together until the butter melts.

  2. Boil a quart of milk. While it is scalding hot, pour it slowly over a pint of sifted Indian meal, stirring in the molasses and butter.

  3. Cover the mixture and let it steep for an hour.

  4. Remove the cover and allow the mixture to cool.

Finish and bake

  1. When the mixture is cold, beat six eggs and stir them gradually into it, adding a tablespoonful of mixed cinnamon and nutmeg and the grated peel of a lemon.

  2. Stir the mixture vigorously, pour it into a buttered dish, and bake for two hours.

  3. Serve hot, with wine sauce or with butter and molasses.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

405Calories
15 gProtein
26 gFat
31 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6

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

By Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep flavor, along with moisture.
Indian meal
Absorbs the hot milk and thickens into the soft, grainy body of the pudding.
Milk
Provides the liquid that the cornmeal swells in, setting into a tender base.
Eggs
Set during baking to bind the pudding and give it a custard-like structure.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a smoother, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Stirring in the eggs when the mixture is cold. Eggs added to a very hot mixture can scramble or cook unevenly. Cooling first lets them blend smoothly, giving an even, custard-like texture after baking.

“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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