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 gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
In a double boiler, heat nearly all the milk until boiling.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour and cornmeal with the remaining milk.
Stir the flour mixture into the boiling milk until thickened.
Remove from heat and add sugar, molasses, suet or butter, salt, cinnamon, and eggs.
If the mixture is too thick, add a little more milk.
Bake and serve
Pour into a baking dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for two hours.
Serve hot, with butter if desired.
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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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).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Cornmeal
- Gives the pudding its body and a coarse, grainy texture as it thickens.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk so the mixture sets into a soft, sliceable pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds dark sweetness and a rich, caramel-like flavor.
- Suet or butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
The step that matters
Thickening the milk. Flour and cornmeal must be stirred into the boiling milk so the starch can swell and thicken evenly; adding them cold or letting the mixture scorch can leave lumps or a burnt taste.
“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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