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 says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Scald the corn flour in boiling water.
In a saucepan, combine the scalded corn flour, milk, butter, and molasses.
Add the beaten eggs and lemon juice, stirring until smooth and light.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Indian corn flour
- Thickens the pudding into a soft, spoonable body as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its structure and custard-like firmness.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and creaminess that the corn flour thickens.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and deep, caramel-like flavour and colour.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the richness.
The step that matters
Add the eggs and stir until smooth and light. Eggs must be fully blended into the warm mixture so they set evenly during baking. Lumps or unevenly distributed egg can cause curdling or a grainy texture, and stirring in air helps give a light result.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, molasses, egg, corn, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, molasses, egg, corn, flour. 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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