Why it works: Butter and milk 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 says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding base
Bring 1 quart of milk to a boil.
Gradually pour the boiling milk over the Indian meal, stirring continuously until smooth.
Return the mixture to the boiler set in another pot of boiling water and cook for 30 minutes, stirring often.
Finish and bake
Add the molasses, 2 ½ tablespoons of butter, the cold milk, and salt.
Butter a deep baking dish, pour the mixture in, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2 ½ 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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,123 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens the milk into a soft, spoonable pudding as it cooks.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deep, caramel-like flavour through the long bake.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal cooks into a custard-like texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the finished pudding.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornmeal into boiling milk. Adding cornmeal gradually and stirring constantly keeps it from clumping, so the mixture cooks evenly into a smooth base before baking.
“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 indian pudding recipes
You might also like
Molasses Sauce32 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 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.