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 ↓
Corn Meal Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Boil the milk.
While hot, pour the milk over the cornmeal and mix well.
Warm the butter and add it to the cornmeal mixture.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of hot water and stir it into the molasses.
Beat the eggs separately and add them when the mixture is cool.
Mix everything well and bake in a buttered dish.
Serve
Serve with a sauce made of maple sugar.
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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,123 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness as they set during baking.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the body of the pudding, absorbing the hot milk to create a thick base.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
The step that matters
Add the eggs when the mixture is cool. Eggs added to very hot mixture can scramble or cook unevenly, leaving lumps and an uneven texture. Letting the mixture cool first keeps the eggs smooth and evenly blended into the batter.
“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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