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 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the pudding base
Scald the cornmeal and flour with part of the milk in a saucepan.
When it begins to thicken, remove from heat.
Add the remaining cold milk along with the molasses, sugar, butter, eggs, and salt.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for two 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.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Thickens the batter as it scalds and gives the pudding its grainy, sturdy body.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds additional starch that helps thicken the pudding and hold its structure.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that the starches hydrate in and sets into a custard.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep, caramel-like flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the pudding and help it set into a tender, sliceable custard when baked.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Scalding the cornmeal and flour. Starches swell and thicken when heated in liquid, so stirring the cornmeal and flour into hot milk and watching for the first thickening prevents lumps and a thin, grainy texture before the rest is added.
“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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