Name: Indian Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup Indian meal; 1 cup malt; 2 quarts milk; 2 eggs; 1 tablespoon salt

Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Indian Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Scald 1 quart of milk and pour it over the Indian meal.
Stir in the malt and the remaining cold milk.
Add the salt and eggs, mixing well.

Steam and serve

Steam for 5 hours.
Serve with cream or a sauce.

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.

Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Malt + milktop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together101 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Malt + eggtop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Indian meal: Cornmeal thickens the pudding as its starch absorbs liquid and sets during cooking.
Milk: Provides the main liquid, giving the pudding moisture and a soft, custardy body.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm but tender custard.
Malt: Adds sweetness and a deeper, toasty flavor to the pudding.

“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.