Why it works: Milk and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,655 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
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.
Make the batter
Scald 1 pint of milk.
Pour the hot milk over ½ cup of Indian meal and stir well.
Add 3 eggs, ⅔ cup of molasses, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Mix in 1 pint of cold milk.
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.
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 + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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 + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Egg + cinnamontop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,058 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
- Cornmeal thickens the milk and gives the pudding its body as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Eggs set during baking, giving the pudding structure and a custard-like firmness.
- Molasses
- Molasses adds sweetness, deep color and a caramel-like flavor when baked.
- Milk
- Milk provides the liquid that hydrates the cornmeal and makes the pudding creamy.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot milk over the Indian meal. Cornmeal needs heat to hydrate and thicken properly. Stirring well while the milk is hot prevents lumps and dry pockets, so the starch swells evenly before the eggs are added.
“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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