Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon 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 says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding base
Mix cornmeal with enough cold water to make a paste.
Stir the paste into the milk and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often.
Let it stand for 10 minutes, then stir in salt, ginger, cinnamon, molasses, and beef suet.
Turn the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake
Pour the cold milk and cold water over the top without stirring.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 4 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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Ginger + cinnamontop 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).
-
Cinnamon + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk into a set, spoonable pudding as it cooks and bakes.
- Milk
- Forms the custard-like base and adds richness and moisture to the pudding.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep caramel flavor to the pudding.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat, which gives the pudding a rich, moist texture.
The step that matters
Pouring the cold milk and water over the top without stirring. Leaving the cold liquid on the surface lets it slowly soak into the cornmeal mixture as it bakes, creating a moist layer. Stirring it in would blend the mixture and lose that separate, slowly absorbed texture.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cinnamon, molasses, beef):
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, molasses, beef. 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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