Name: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup yellow cornmeal; 3 tablespoons sugar; 1 tablespoon baking powder; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt; 1½ teaspoons chili powder; ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled; 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature; 1 large egg yolk; ¼ cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen; 1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely diced; ¼ red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

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.

Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,324 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins