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 ↓
Baked Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the raisins, chopped suet or butter, Indian meal, and salt.
Peel and chop the sour apples, then add them to the mixture.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and milk together, then stir into the dry ingredients.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake for about 1 hour or until set and golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Raisin + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,920 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Forms the body of the pudding and absorbs the milk to set into a thick texture.
- Egg
- Helps bind the batter and gives it structure as it bakes.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the cornmeal absorbs and softens during baking.
- Suet or butter
- Adds fat, giving richness and a tender, moist texture.
- Sour apples
- Add acidity and moisture, balancing the sweetness of the raisins.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy pockets of fruit throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Baking until set and golden brown. Cornmeal thickens as its starch absorbs the liquid and the egg firms with heat. Underbaking leaves a runny center, while overbaking dries the pudding out.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, apple, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Peachfits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, apple, milk, 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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