Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Nettie's Dessert
Ingredients
Directions
Make the meringue base
Combine one pint of boiling water, one half cup of granulated sugar, pinch of salt, and three tablespoons of corn starch, and dissolve the starch in the water.
Stir the dissolved starch into the boiling water.
Add the whites of three eggs beaten stiff.
Take off the stove and set aside to cool.
Make the custard
Combine one quart of milk (boiling or not), one cup of sugar, pinch of salt, and three teaspoons of cornstarch.
Add the yolks of three eggs and flavor with vanilla.
Take off the stove and cool.
Assemble and serve
Turn the cooled mixture into the white part.
Drop jelly on top of this.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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 + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
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 + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 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
- Whites are beaten stiff to give the base lightness and structure; yolks enrich the custard.
- Cornstarch
- Starch thickens the boiling liquids as it swells with heat, giving body to the base and custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding richness and creaminess.
- Sugar
- Sweetens both the base and the custard and helps give body to the mixture.
The step that matters
Stir the dissolved starch into the boiling water. Starch must be fully dissolved before it meets the hot liquid, otherwise it clumps instead of thickening evenly and the texture turns lumpy.
“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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