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 ↓
Delicate Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding base
Boil the milk in a double boiler.
Sprinkle the Indian meal into the boiling milk, stirring constantly.
Cook for 12 minutes, stirring often.
Stir the butter into the meal and milk mixture.
Combine and bake
In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, salt, sugar, and ginger.
Gradually pour the meal mixture over the egg mixture, stirring well.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for one hour.
Serve
Serve with a sauce made of heated syrup and butter.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the pudding and help it set into a custard-like texture as it bakes.
- Indian meal
- Thickens the hot milk and gives the pudding its body and grainy texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the meal thickens and the eggs set into a custard.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, smoother mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the set texture of the pudding.
The step that matters
Gradually pour the meal mixture over the egg mixture, stirring well.. Adding the hot meal mixture slowly while stirring tempers the eggs, so they blend in smoothly instead of scrambling into lumps before baking.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Parsleyfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, butter, 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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