Why it works: Corn and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 938 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Meal-potato Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make and bake the batter
In a bowl, mix the corn meal, melted shortening, salt, eggs, baking powder, and enough liquid to create a medium soft batter.
If desired, add sweetening.
Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin.
Bake for 30 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.
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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Corn + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together938 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + potatotop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,978 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn meal
- Provides the coarse grain structure and the characteristic texture of the muffins.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the batter rise and lightens the muffins.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Potato liquid
- Adds moisture so the batter reaches a medium soft consistency.
The step that matters
Mixing the batter to a medium soft consistency. The amount of liquid controls how thick the batter is. Too little liquid makes a stiff batter that bakes dry and dense, while too much makes it loose and flat. Add the liquid gradually and stop when the batter reaches the consistency the recipe describes.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, egg. 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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