Name: Rolled Oats Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup rolled oats; 1 egg; ½ cup sugar; 1 quart milk; ⅓ cup molasses; ½ teaspoon cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Oats and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,394 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Rolled Oats Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

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

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make and bake

In a bowl, mix the rolled oats, beaten egg, sugar, milk, molasses, cinnamon, and salt thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Bake for 1½ hours.

Serve

Serve with whipped cream.

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.

Oats + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,928 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Rolled oats: Provide the bulk and body that thicken the pudding as it bakes.
Egg: Helps bind the mixture and set it into a custard-like texture when baked.
Milk: Supplies liquid that the oats absorb and that sets gently during baking.
Molasses: Adds deep sweetness and a darker color through browning and caramelization.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and aids browning on the surface.

“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.