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Dessert

Indian-tapioca Pudding

A sweet pudding made from soaked tapioca, milk, cornmeal, molasses, and spices, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Indian-tapioca 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 pudding base

  1. In the morning, scald 2 cups of milk.

  2. Stir in 3 tablespoons of cornmeal mixed with ½ cup of milk.

  3. Add ½ cup of molasses, the soaked tapioca, 1 teaspoon of butter, and a pinch of salt.

  4. Mix in 1 teaspoon each of ginger, cinnamon, and allspice.

  5. Stir in 1 cup of cold milk.

Bake

  1. Bake for 2 hours at 350°F (175°C).

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. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Tapioca
Swells during soaking and thickens the pudding as it cooks, giving it body.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and, with its proteins, helps the pudding set as it bakes.
Cornmeal
Adds thickening starch and a slightly grainy texture to the pudding.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, deep color and a caramel-like flavor as the pudding bakes.

The step that matters

Stir in the cold milk before baking. Adding cold milk after the hot scalded milk and starches lowers the mixture's temperature and keeps it pourable, so the tapioca and cornmeal hydrate evenly rather than clumping before the long bake.

Swap the ginger

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

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

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