Skip to main content
Dessert

Pudding of Polenta, Ob Italian Flour of Maize

A baked pudding made from polenta, milk, butter, salt, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Pudding of Polenta, Ob Italian Flour of Maize

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the polenta

  1. In a pot, combine polenta, milk, butter, salt, and cayenne.

  2. Cook over low heat, stirring until well mixed.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.

  2. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes until firm.

  3. Let cool slightly before turning out onto a serving plate.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Polenta
Forms the main body of the pudding, setting firm as it cooks and bakes.
Milk
Provides liquid that cooks the cornmeal and gives the pudding a creamy, tender texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
Cayenne
Adds gentle heat and a touch of aroma to the pudding.

The step that matters

Cooking the polenta on the stovetop. Polenta can scorch or form lumps if left unattended on heat. Low heat and constant stirring keep it smooth and evenly hydrated before it goes into the oven to set.

“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.

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes