Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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
Scald the cornmeal in 1½ pints of milk.
Add the remaining milk and all other ingredients except the butter.
Cut the butter into small pieces and place on top of the pudding.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour, stirring often during the first 30 minutes.
Serve with hard sauce.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
- Yellow cornmeal
- Its starch thickens the milk as it heats and gives the pudding its body.
- Eggs
- They set as the pudding bakes, helping bind the custard into a sliceable texture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, deep color and a rich, treacly flavor.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the cornmeal thickens and the eggs set into custard.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a soft, moist texture as it melts into the pudding.
- Brown sugar
- Contributes sweetness and caramel-like depth of flavor.
The step that matters
Stir often during the first 30 minutes of baking. Cornmeal is heavier than the liquid and settles toward the bottom. Stirring keeps it evenly dispersed while the starch thickens, so the pudding bakes smooth rather than grainy or separated.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, egg, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Clovefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, egg, sugar, butter. 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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