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Corn Pudding with Herbs and Seared Catfish

A baked corn pudding mixed with cheese, herbs, and seared catfish.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Catfish and corn work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 23 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • For catfish
  • For the pudding

Directions

Prepare the catfish

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

  2. Generously grease eight 5- to 6-ounce individual soufflé or custard cups.

  3. Combine Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper in a shallow dish, add catfish fillet cubes and toss to mix well, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 or 3 hours to marinate.

  4. Heat a nonstick, medium skillet over medium-high heat, add the catfish and its marinades, and stir until the marinades have evaporated and the catfish is nearly cooked through, about 3 minutes.

  5. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Make the pudding

  1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan.

  2. Gradually sprinkle cornmeal into the boiling water, whisking constantly until the mixture returns to a boil and thickens.

  3. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese, butter, salt, pepper, buttermilk, egg yolks, pimiento or red pepper, green onions, corn, basil and the catfish.

  4. Beat egg whites and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl until they form soft peaks, then gently fold them into the cornmeal mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Divide the mixture among the prepared cups.

  2. Bake 25 or 30 minutes or until puddings are set and well browned.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Catfish + corntop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together23 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Catfish + buttermilktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Cheddar cheese + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,434 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sauce + catfishtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + buttermilktop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together129 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Stone-ground cornmeal
Cooked into a thick base that gives the pudding its body and corn flavor.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the custard, while whipped whites lift it and help it set airy.
Cheddar cheese
Adds richness and savory flavor, and melts into the base to help it hold together.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and mild tang that keeps the pudding tender.
Catfish
Provides the main protein, cooked first so it stays firm within the soft pudding.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites. Whipped egg whites trap air that makes the pudding rise and set light. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the foam and leaves the pudding dense.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, pepper, catfish, cheddar cheese, butter, buttermilk, egg):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Chiveabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, pepper, catfish, cheddar cheese, butter, buttermilk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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