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 ↓
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.
Prepare
Wet 1 cup of cornmeal with part of 3 pints of milk.
Boil the remaining milk.
When boiling, add the cornmeal and stir until thickened.
Make the pudding
Remove from heat and mix in 1 cup of molasses, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon of salt.
Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.
Add 2 cups of cold milk.
Bake for 4 hours at 300°F (150°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.
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).
-
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 cooks, giving the pudding its body and soft set.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal swells in and hydrates during baking.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep color, and its flavor carries the dish.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornmeal into boiling milk. Cornmeal added to milk can clump if poured in cold or stirred too little. Stirring while adding it keeps the starch dispersed so the mixture thickens smoothly.
“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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