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
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 the custard
Scald the milk in a large pot.
Stir in the cornmeal and ginger, then let it stand for 20 minutes.
Add the molasses and eggs, mixing well.
Stir in the butter until melted.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours.
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.
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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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Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + gingertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk into a loose, pudding-like body as it cooks and stands.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding structure and a custardy texture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep caramel-like flavor.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal hydrates and the eggs set within.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Scald the milk. Scalding heats the milk so the cornmeal can hydrate and thicken evenly. Starting with cold milk risks lumps and a grainy, uneven texture in the finished pudding.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, molasses, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, molasses, 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.
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