Name: Cornmeal Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup yellow or white cornmeal; 3 large eggs, well beaten; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ cup sugar; 1 cup sweet milk; ⅓ cup cream; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cornmeal 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.

Prepare

Make a thick mush with the cornmeal and 2 cups of water.
In a bowl, combine the mush with the beaten eggs and salt.
Stir in the sugar, sweet milk, cream, and vanilla extract.
Pour the mixture into a pudding pan.

Bake and serve

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
Serve hot with hard sauce or foamy sauce.

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Cornmeal: Forms the thick base that gives the pudding its body and firm, sliceable texture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set during baking to give the pudding structure.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the top brown lightly as it bakes.
Sweet milk: Supplies liquid that keeps the pudding moist and creamy as the cornmeal softens.
Cream: Adds fat for a richer, softer texture and a smoother crumb.

“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.