Why it works: Milk and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,243 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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
Scald the milk in a saucepan.
Stir in the salt and yellow cornmeal until well combined.
Mix and bake
Add the West India molasses and chopped kidney suet, mixing thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake slowly at 300°F (150°C) for 3 to 3.5 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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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 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
- Yellow cornmeal
- Thickens the milk as it bakes, giving the pudding its body and a soft, spoonable set.
- West india molasses
- Adds sweetness, deep color and a caramel-like flavor during the long, slow bake.
- Kidney suet
- Adds fat that enriches the pudding and keeps it moist and tender as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens into a custard-like pudding.
The step that matters
Bake slowly at 300°F (150°C) for 3 to 3.5 hours. Cornmeal needs a long, gentle bake to soften fully and thicken without scorching. A hot oven can dry the pudding or burn the sugars in the molasses before the center sets.
“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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