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Dessert

Cornmeal and Fig Pudding

A baked pudding made from cornmeal, milk, figs, molasses, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and fig are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cornmeal and Fig Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Cook cornmeal with 4 cups of milk until thick.

  2. Stir in chopped figs and salt.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Add molasses and beaten eggs. Mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.

  2. Gently add the remaining 2 cups of milk without stirring.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 hours.

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 + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

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

  2. Molasses + figtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together319 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Fig + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,406 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

Cornmeal
Thickens the milk into a firm base that holds the pudding together.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep flavor to the pudding.
Eggs
Set during baking to give the pudding structure and body.
Milk
Provides the liquid that cornmeal thickens and the baking sets into a custard.
Figs
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Gently add the remaining milk without stirring. Pouring the milk on top without mixing lets it form a layer that bakes into a looser, more liquid top while the cornmeal base sets underneath. Stirring would blend it in and change the texture.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Datesfits less well

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