Why it works: Nutmeg and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Baked 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 pudding base
Scald 1 quart of milk in a pot.
In a separate bowl, stir 1 teacup of Indian meal into a little cold milk.
Add the Indian meal mixture to the boiling milk.
Stir until it thickens.
Remove from heat.
Let it cool slightly.
Season and bake
Add a pinch of salt.
Add 1 pint of cold milk.
Sweeten with 1 to 1½ cups of a mixture of sugar and molasses.
Flavor with a little nutmeg and ginger.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake for 3 hours at 300°F (150°C).
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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Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens into a custard-like pudding.
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens with heat as its starch swells, giving the pudding its body.
- Sugar and molasses
- Add sweetness and a deep, caramel-like flavor while helping the pudding brown.
The step that matters
Stir until it thickens. Cornmeal can clump or scorch on the bottom of the pot if it is not stirred while it cooks. Stirring keeps it smooth as the starch swells and thickens the milk.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, molasses, ginger):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, molasses, ginger. 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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