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Dessert

Bellevue Pudding

A steamed molasses pudding with a vanilla sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Bellevue Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Mix molasses, salt, butter, flour, sweet milk, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves in a large bowl until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased mold and steam for three hours.

Make the vanilla sauce

  1. Beat the egg in a bowl for the vanilla sauce.

  2. Cream together the butter and powdered sugar.

  3. Add the beaten egg and vanilla to the mixture.

  4. Cook the mixture over low heat until thick, stirring constantly.

  5. Just before serving, stir in the boiling water.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Clove + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

New orleans molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the pudding.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the pudding together after steaming.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Egg
Helps thicken the sauce as its proteins set during gentle cooking.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture over low heat until thick, stirring constantly.. Egg proteins set and thicken when heated, but high heat or stopping the stirring can make them curdle or scorch, leaving a lumpy sauce.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, flour, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, sauce):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, flour, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, sauce. 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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