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Dessert

Baked Indian Pudding

A baked pudding made from Indian meal, butter, molasses, milk, water, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Baked Indian Pudding

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Baked Indian Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. In a pot, bring 1 quart of milk to a boil.

  2. In a bowl, mix 7 tablespoons of Indian meal, 2 tablespoons of butter, ½ teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of molasses. Add ginger or cinnamon to taste.

Mix and bake

  1. Pour the boiling milk into the mixture and stir well.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish.

  3. Just before placing it in the oven, stir in 1 cup of cold water.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Ginger + milktop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,519 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Butter + gingertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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 milk into a soft, spoonable pudding as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, deep color, and a rich caramel-like flavor.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal swells in and sets into custard.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother texture and richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stirring in the cold water just before baking. Cold water added right before baking keeps the batter thinner going into the oven, so it can rise and set evenly rather than thickening too early in the bowl. Stir it in only at the last moment, as the recipe directs.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses, milk. 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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