Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Baked Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Stir the cornmeal slowly into the boiling milk and water.
Add the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, cinnamon, and cloves.
Mix well and add cold milk if desired.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 3 to 4 hours.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the liquid as it cooks and gives the pudding its body and grainy texture.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding structure and a firm, custardy texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and moisture that the cornmeal absorbs and the eggs set within.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during the long bake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
- Flour
- Adds extra starch to thicken the batter further and support its structure.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornmeal into the boiling liquid. Cornmeal starch clumps when dropped into hot liquid without constant stirring. Adding it slowly while stirring disperses the granules so the pudding cooks smooth instead of lumpy.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon. 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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