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Dessert

Indian-meal Pudding

A pudding made from cornmeal, milk, butter, molasses, and water, baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Indian-meal Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the kettle

  1. Rub the butter around the bottom and sides of a smooth iron kettle.

  2. When melted, add the boiling water to prevent the milk from burning.

Make the pudding

  1. Add the quart of milk and let it boil up.

  2. Sift in the cornmeal while stirring constantly, ensuring every grain is scalded.

  3. Add the salt and set aside until cold.

  4. Stir in the molasses and the quart of cold milk.

  5. Pour into a well-buttered deep pudding dish.

  6. Cover with a plate.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake slowly at 300°F (150°C) for 10 to 12 hours.

  2. Let it remain overnight.

  3. Serve for breakfast.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Fine yellow cornmeal
Forms the thick body of the pudding as its starch thickens when scalded and baked.
Milk
Provides the liquid that the cornmeal absorbs, and adds richness and creaminess to the custard.
New orleans molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep caramel flavor as the pudding bakes slowly.
Butter
Greases the kettle and dish so the pudding does not stick, and adds a little richness.

The step that matters

Scalding the cornmeal while stirring. Cornmeal added to hot milk must be stirred constantly so it hydrates evenly without lumps. Scalding the grains softens their starch so the pudding thickens smoothly during the long, slow bake.

“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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