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Date Pudding

A sweet pudding made with milk, cornstarch, dates, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Date Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the cornstarch with ½ cup milk.

  2. Heat the remaining milk in a double boiler.

Cook and cool

  1. Add the cornstarch mixture, syrup, dates, and salt; stir until thick.

  2. Cover and cook for twenty minutes.

  3. Add the vanilla and pour into a dish to cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Dates + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together218 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Milk + datestop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk as its starch swells and sets when heated.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into a creamy custard.
Dates
Add body, texture, and natural sweetness to the pudding.
Corn or maple syrup
Adds sweetness and a smooth, glossy texture.

The step that matters

Stir until thick. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a simmer and its starch granules swell. Stirring constantly keeps the starch evenly dispersed, preventing lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, vanilla):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, vanilla. 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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