Why it works: Milk and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. 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.
Prepare the pudding base
Boil the milk in a pot.
Gradually stir in the Indian meal and molasses, then let it cool.
Assemble and bake
Butter a high brown earthen pan.
Add the chopped beef suet and salt to the pan.
Pour the pudding mixture into the pan and add the cold milk; stir well to mix.
Do not stir again after adding the last quart of cold milk.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for five hours, or eight hours if using a brick oven.
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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Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Molasses + beeftop 35% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together606 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that sets into a soft, custardy pudding as it bakes.
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens the liquid and gives the pudding its body and grainy texture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep color, and its flavor carries the dish's character.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that enriches the texture and keeps the pudding moist during long baking.
The step that matters
Do not stir again after adding the last quart of cold milk. Stirring once the cold milk is in can break up the forming set, and leaving the mixture undisturbed lets it bake into a smooth, even texture with a settled top.
“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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