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Grits or Hominy Pudding

A baked pudding made from grits, eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Grits or Hominy Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the grits

  1. Boil the grits until soft, similar to rice.

Mix and bake

  1. In a large bowl, mix the grits with the butter, cream, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  2. Add the beaten eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to the mixture and stir well.

  3. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake until set.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the pudding and help it set into a custard-like structure when baked.
Grits
Provide the bulk and body of the pudding once cooked soft.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist texture.
Milk
Adds liquid that softens the grits and contributes to a creamy custard texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and contributes to browning on the baked surface.
Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar and helps the pudding rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake until set. Eggs set through gentle, even heat; overbaking makes the pudding dry and grainy, while underbaking leaves it loose in the centre. Check for a firm set rather than relying on time alone.

“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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