Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger 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 ↓
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 batter
Stir the Indian meal into the cold milk.
Add the scalded milk, sugar, molasses, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and beaten eggs, then mix until well combined.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
Pour on the cold milk and bake for an additional 2 hours without stirring.
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 + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens the mixture as its starch gelatinises during baking.
- Eggs
- Proteins set during baking, giving the pudding a custard-like structure.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, deep colour and a rich, slightly bitter flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during long baking.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and tenderness as the mixture thickens into a pudding.
The step that matters
Baking without stirring. The second milk is poured on top and the pudding bakes undisturbed for a long time. Stirring would break up the forming structure, so the cornmeal and eggs can thicken slowly and set into a soft pudding with a layered texture.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, 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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