Why it works: Milk and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,655 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Baked 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.
Make the custard
Combine 1 pint of milk and ½ cup of cornmeal in a saucepan.
Boil until thick.
Stir in 1 cup of molasses, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Add 1 pint of cold milk and mix well.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 3 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.
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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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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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
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk as it boils, giving the pudding its body.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep flavour, and darkens the pudding.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens and the oven sets.
The step that matters
Boil until thick. Cornmeal must be cooked long enough in hot liquid for its starch to swell and thicken; undercooked cornmeal leaves a grainy, thin base that the slow baking cannot fully fix.
“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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