Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Indian Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the pudding base
In a large pot, bring the milk to a boil.
Stir in the Indian meal, flour, butter, molasses, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.
Let the mixture come to a boil again.
Remove from heat and let it cool for 30 minutes.
Bake
Add the beaten egg and mix well.
Pour into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
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.
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens the milk and gives the pudding its body and grainy texture.
- Eggs
- The beaten egg binds the pudding and helps it set as it bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep colour, and keeps the pudding moist.
- Flour
- Adds extra thickening so the pudding holds its shape when set.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal cooks into a thick custard-like mixture.
The step that matters
Let the mixture come to a boil again. Cornmeal needs to be fully cooked at a boil to thicken and lose its raw starchy taste before the egg is added. Stirring keeps it from scorching on the bottom of the pot.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, butter, molasses, cinnamon, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, butter, molasses, cinnamon, 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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