Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard base
Thicken hot milk with cornmeal until stiff.
Remove from heat and stir in butter.
Bake
Add cold milk, beaten eggs, molasses, sugar, spices, and raisins.
Pour mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for three hours.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + raisintop 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
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the hot milk into a stiff base that gives the pudding its body.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding structure and a tender crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, deep flavor, and sweetness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens and the eggs set.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, softening the texture and carrying flavor.
The step that matters
Thicken the hot milk with cornmeal until stiff. Cornmeal must be cooked fully in hot liquid so its starch gelatinizes and thickens the base. Undercooked cornmeal stays grainy and fails to give the pudding its body.
Swap the raisin
The recipe marks raisin as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, egg, molasses, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, egg, molasses, sugar. 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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