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Dessert

Indian Meal Pudding

A cornmeal pudding made with milk, eggs, molasses, butter, and spices, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Indian Meal Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Scald the cornmeal with boiling water.

  2. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

Make the pudding

  1. Stir in the scalded cornmeal and boil for 30 minutes, stirring often.

  2. Beat the eggs until light, then mix in the butter and molasses until lighter in color.

  3. Add the spices, then gradually mix in the cornmeal mixture until well combined.

  4. Grease a pudding dish, pour in the mixture, and cover.

Bake

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes, then remove the lid and brown the top.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

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

What each ingredient does

Yellow cornmeal
Forms the thick body of the pudding as its starch thickens during cooking.
Eggs
Set during baking to give the pudding its firm, custardy structure.
Milk
Provides liquid and richness, creating a soft, tender texture as it cooks.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep flavor, and helps the top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Cooking the cornmeal mixture on the stove. Cornmeal must boil long enough for its starch to fully gelatinize and thicken; undercooked cornmeal stays grainy and loose, and stirring often prevents scorching on the pan bottom.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, molasses, butter, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, molasses, butter, cinnamon. 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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