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Dessert

Hominy Pudding

A baked custard made with cooked hominy, milk, dates or raisins, egg, corn syrup, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Hominy Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Bake

  1. Grease custard cups and fill them with the mixture.

  2. Place the cups in a pan filled with water.

  3. Bake until set like custard, about 30-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

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. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Milk + datestop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,678 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Dates + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Sets with heat to give the pudding its custard-like structure.
Hominy
Provides the bulk and starchy body of the pudding.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the custard.
Corn syrup
Adds sweetness and a smooth, moist texture.
Dates or raisins
Add sweetness and a chewy texture.

The step that matters

Placing the cups in a water pan. The water bath keeps the heat gentle and even, so the egg custard sets smoothly without curdling, overbaking or cracking on top.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, corn, syrup):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, corn, syrup. 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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