Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
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.
Make the pudding
Scald cornmeal with milk until thick like gruel.
Let it cool, then add ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and sugar to taste.
Stir in chopped beef suet or butter, and raisins or apples.
Bake
Butter a deep dish and pour in the mixture.
Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk into a firm, spoonable pudding base as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that cornmeal swells in and sets during baking.
- Beef suet or butter
- Adds fat for a richer, moister texture in the baked pudding.
- Raisins or apples
- Adds pockets of sweetness and chewy or soft fruit texture throughout.
The step that matters
Scaling the cornmeal into the milk. Cornmeal must be fully scalded and thickened before cooling, because starch swells in hot liquid to form the gruel-like base. Lumps or thin mixing leave an uneven, runny pudding after baking.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, beef, raisin):
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits better
- Allspicefits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, beef, raisin. 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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