Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Baked Indian 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 custard base
Boil 1 quart of milk in a pot.
Stir the Indian meal with the remaining pint of milk and melted butter in a separate bowl.
Stir the meal mixture into the boiling milk.
Let the mixture boil for 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
Beat the eggs separately.
Stir the beaten eggs into the mixture.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake for 1½ hours at 350°F (175°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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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens and the eggs set into a pudding.
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal swells and thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the pudding and give it a firm, sliceable texture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep caramel-like flavor.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that enriches the texture and mouthfeel of the pudding.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool slightly before adding the eggs. Eggs begin to scramble and curdle when they meet very hot liquid. Cooling the mixture a little lets the eggs blend in smoothly and set evenly in the oven.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, molasses, butter, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, molasses, butter, cinnamon. 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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