Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Corn Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the grated corn, cream, flour, butter, and beaten egg until well combined.
Cook
Heat a griddle over medium heat and grease it lightly.
Pour small amounts of the mixture onto the griddle to form cakes.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.
Serve
Serve warm, spread with butter.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Grated sweet corn
- Provides the main bulk and sweetness of the fritters.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture together so the fritters hold their shape.
- Flour
- Adds structure, helping the batter set into cakes when cooked.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavour and helps the cakes brown.
The step that matters
Cook until golden brown on both sides. Fritters need enough heat to set the egg and flour and brown the surface. Pale or underdone centres stay soft and doughy, so cook until both sides are golden.
“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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