Why it works: Milk and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,243 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Pour 1 quart of milk into a container.
In a saucepan, combine ½ cup of milk and 1 teaspoon of salt, and heat until almost boiling.
Make the pudding base
Stir in ⅔ cup of Indian meal and remove from heat when cooked.
Mix in ½ cup of molasses.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding pot.
When almost cold, add the remaining milk without stirring.
Before baking, add ⅔ cup of cold milk and a piece of suet.
Bake
Cook in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 4 to 5 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 + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the cornmeal absorbs and that softens during the long bake.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deep brown color and flavor.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist as it bakes.
The step that matters
Cook in a slow oven. Baking slowly for hours lets the cornmeal swell and set gently while the milk reduces, so the pudding becomes creamy rather than dry or curdled.
“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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