Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Cottage Pudding
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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix the baking powder and salt into the cornmeal.
Add the sugar and beaten egg yolks, then the melted lard and milk.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a buttered tin and bake for about 20 minutes.
Serve hot with a liquid sauce.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Egg whites beaten stiff add lift and an airy, light structure to the batter.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the body of the pudding, giving it its grainy, sturdy texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping it rise and turn lighter in the oven.
- Lard
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and richer mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiffly beaten whites trap air that gives the batter its lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves a dense pudding.
“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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