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 the batter
In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, melted shortening, salt, eggs, baking powder, and liquid until combined.
Add mashed potato to achieve a medium soft batter.
If desired, stir in sweetening.
Bake
Spoon the batter into muffin tins and 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).
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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
- Forms the main body of the muffins and gives them their grainy texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the muffins set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the muffins rise and become light.
- Mashed potato
- Adds moisture and a soft, tender crumb to the batter.
- Melted shortening
- Adds fat for tenderness and a richer mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Adding the mashed potato to a medium soft batter. The batter's consistency sets how the muffins rise and crumb. Too thick gives dense, dry muffins, and too thin makes them spread and turn heavy. Adjust gradually with the liquid until the batter is soft but still holds its shape.
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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