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Dessert

Boiled Indian Pudding

A sweet pudding made from sour and sweet milk, molasses, Indian meal, flour, and spices, boiled for two hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Boiled Indian Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine sour milk, sweet milk, and molasses.

  2. Stir in Indian meal, flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, and allspice until well mixed.

  3. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil in a pot of water for about 2 hours, ensuring the water level stays consistent.

  2. Remove from mold and serve warm.

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. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,302 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Molasses + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,508 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Indian meal
Provides the main body and structure of the pudding as it cooks.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep flavor to the pudding.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to help the pudding rise and lighten.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and adds tang and moisture.
Flour
Adds extra structure so the batter holds its shape in the mold.

The step that matters

Keep the boiling water level consistent. A steady water level keeps the heat even around the mold. If the water drops and the pot boils dry, the pudding can cook unevenly or scorch, and it may not set properly.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, molasses, flour, allspice):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, molasses, flour, allspice. 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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