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Dessert

Baked Indian Pudding

A sweet pudding made with Indian meal, molasses, milk, butter, ginger, salt, and egg, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Baked Indian Pudding

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 ↓

Baked Indian Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 batter

  1. Boil 1 pint of milk.

  2. Pour the boiling milk over the Indian meal.

  3. Stir in the molasses.

  4. Add the cold milk, butter, ginger, salt, and egg.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Serve with cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + gingertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,519 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Indian meal
Cornmeal swells and thickens in the hot milk, giving the pudding its body.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, deep color, and a rich caramel-like flavor.
Milk
Forms the main liquid, supplying moisture for a soft, spoonable texture.
Egg
Sets as it bakes, binding the pudding and firming the custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Ginger
Contributes warm spice aroma that complements the molasses.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling milk over the Indian meal. Hot liquid swells the cornmeal's starch and helps it disperse evenly, so the pudding thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps. Adding the cold ingredients only afterward keeps the mixture from cooling before the meal is hydrated.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, egg, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, egg, 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.

More indian pudding recipes

Baked 36Boiled 26Steamed 12Apple 8New England 4Plain 4 See all 344 →

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