Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Baked 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 custard base
Boil 1 quart of sweet milk.
Stir in 1 cup of cornmeal, ensuring no lumps remain.
Let the mixture cool, then add 1 pint of sweet milk, 2 eggs, 1 cup of molasses, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 3 teaspoons of all-purpose flour.
Bake
Mix well and pour into a baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 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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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Forms the thick, starchy body of the pudding as it cooks and sets.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firm when baked.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep caramel-like flavor.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that the cornmeal absorbs and that bakes into a creamy custard.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds extra starch to help thicken the pudding and stabilize its texture.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornmeal into boiling milk. Cornmeal added to hot liquid can clump into lumps if not stirred steadily. Lumps stay in the baked pudding, so the cornmeal should be whisked in gradually and smoothly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, molasses, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, molasses, flour. 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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