Name: Baked Hominy and Cheese
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon oleomargarine or drippings; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 cup milk; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon paprika; ½ to 1 cup cheese, grated or finely cut; 2 cups cooked hominy; ¾ cup bread crumbs

Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Baked Hominy and Cheese

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.

Make the sauce

In a saucepan, melt the oleomargarine or drippings.
Stir in the cornstarch, salt, and milk to make a sauce.
Add the cheese and paprika to the sauce, mixing well.

Bake

Arrange the cooked hominy in a baking dish and pour the sauce over it.
Cover with bread crumbs and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Hominy: Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it a soft, starchy body.
Cheese: Melts into the sauce to add richness and a savory, binding flavor.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, carrying the cornstarch and cheese.
Cornstarch: Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that coats the hominy.
Bread crumbs: Forms a crisp, browned topping during baking.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Cornstarch must be stirred into the melted fat and milk and kept moving so it hydrates evenly; if it clumps or is not heated enough, the sauce stays lumpy or thin instead of smooth and glossy.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Macaroni and Cheese102 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

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Baked Hominy and Cheese