Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Hasty Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Boil 1 quart of new milk with cinnamon or laurel leaves.
While boiling, shake in 2 tablespoons of flour and stir until it thickens.
Pour the mixture into a deep dish.
Stir in 1 ounce of butter and 1 ounce of moist sugar.
Grate nutmeg over the top.
If using, add 2 or 3 well-beaten eggs, stirring them into the thickened milk off the heat.
For a variation, use arrow-root moistened with a little cold milk instead of flour.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the boiling milk into a soft, smooth pudding as its starch swells.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help set the pudding when stirred into the thickened milk.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the pudding.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and a deeper, caramel-like flavor.
The step that matters
Stirring eggs in off the heat. Eggs can scramble if they hit very hot milk directly. Removing the pan from the heat before stirring in well-beaten eggs lets them thicken gently and stay smooth.
“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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