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Dessert

Semolina Pudding

A steamed semolina pudding flavored with sugar, butter, milk, and egg, served with arrowroot sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Semolina Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. In an enamelled saucepan, combine semolina, sugar, butter, and milk.

  2. Stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens.

  3. Add the well-beaten egg and mix thoroughly.

  4. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for 1.5 hours.

  2. Serve with arrowroot sauce.

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.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Semolina + arrowroottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Semolina + saucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together20 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Semolina
Provides the starch and body that thicken the pudding into a soft, set texture.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set firm when steamed.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.
Milk
Hydrates the semolina so it swells and thickens as it heats.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and adds to its soft, tender texture.

The step that matters

Stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Semolina must be stirred while it heats so the starch hydrates evenly and thickens without scorching or forming lumps. Once the mixture is smooth and thick, it can be combined with the egg safely and will set properly during steaming.

Swap the arrowroot

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Sweet potatofits about as well
  4. Arrowrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against semolina, sugar, butter, milk, egg, sauce. 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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