Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓
Boiled Corn Meal Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Warm the molasses and milk together in a pot.
Beat the eggs and gradually stir them into the molasses and milk mixture.
Add the chopped beef suet or butter and enough corn meal to create a thick batter.
Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
Boil and serve
Dip a cloth into boiling water, shake off excess, and lightly flour it.
Pour the mixture into the cloth, tie it up, leaving room for the pudding to swell.
Boil the pudding for three hours.
Serve hot with a sauce made of drawn butter, wine, and nutmeg.
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.
-
Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Corn + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets.
- Corn meal
- Provides the body of the pudding, thickening the batter into a firm mass.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and a rich, moist texture.
- Beef suet or butter
- Adds fat, giving richness and a tender, moist crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses acidity to lighten the pudding as it cooks.
The step that matters
Leaving room in the cloth. The pudding swells as it cooks, so the cloth must be tied loosely enough to allow expansion. A tight tie can restrict rising and leave the pudding dense or split the cloth.
“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.
More cornmeal pudding recipes
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.