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 ↓
Mohawk Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the cornmeal base
Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan.
Sprinkle in the cornmeal while whisking to prevent lumps.
Stir over heat for a few minutes, then cover tightly, reduce heat, and cook for 2 hours.
Finish and bake
Turn the mixture into a pan and mix in the beaten eggs, grated lemon rind, and lemon juice.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes, until the eggs are set.
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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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid that the cornmeal thickens into a soft, spoonable base.
- Cornmeal
- Its starch thickens with heat and gives the pudding its body and grainy texture.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to hold the pudding together and add richness.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for a richer, more tender texture and smoother mouthfeel.
- Black molasses
- Adds sweetness, deep color, and a robust caramel-like flavor.
- Lemon
- Rind adds fragrant aroma and juice adds a bright acidity that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Sprinkle the cornmeal in slowly while whisking. Cornmeal dropped into hot liquid clumps as its outer starch swells and seals off the dry center. Adding it gradually while whisking separates the particles so the base cooks smooth rather than lumpy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, molasses, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, molasses, egg. 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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