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
Make the cornmeal base
Place the milk in a double boiler and heat until scalding hot.
Add the cornmeal, moistened with cold water, and stir constantly to avoid lumps.
Cook for twenty minutes.
Bake and serve
Turn into a pudding dish and stir in the other ingredients, adding the beaten eggs last.
Bake for two to three hours in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).
Serve hot with hard sauce or any preferred sauce.
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.
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.
-
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Raisin + gingertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,242 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 cornmeal thickens into a custard-like pudding.
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk as it cooks and gives the pudding its body and texture.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the pudding and give it a firmer, custardy structure.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and molasses flavour that deepens during the long bake.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of chewy sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornmeal into the hot milk. Cornmeal added to hot milk clumps quickly if not stirred constantly, because the starch on the outside of each grain swells and sticks before the rest can be wetted. Moistening the cornmeal with cold water first and stirring constantly helps the grains disperse evenly and thicken smoothly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, raisin, cinnamon, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, raisin, cinnamon, 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.
More indian pudding recipes
You might also like
Ginger Cookies213 recipes
Ginger Cake93 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Cinnamon Rolls71 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.