Name: Mock Oysters of Green Corn
Ingredients: two ounces of butter; three tablespoonfuls of milk; a pint of grated corn; a cup of flour; one egg; salt; pepper

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Mock Oysters of Green Corn

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine grated corn, flour, egg, butter, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
Mix the ingredients well until a uniform batter forms.
(Optional) If using canned corn, press it through a colander with a potato masher to separate the hulls before mixing.

Fry and serve

Drop spoonfuls of the batter into hot butter, shaping them into oblong cakes to resemble oysters.
Fry the cakes until browned on both sides.
Serve the fried cakes on a platter and garnish with parsley.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

867Calories

30 gProtein

27 gFat

126 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

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
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,324 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides starch and structure so the batter holds its shape when fried.
Egg: Binds the corn and flour together and helps the cakes hold their shape.
Butter: Adds richness and fat for frying, promoting browning on the cakes' surface.
Grated corn: Supplies the main bulk, sweetness and flavor of the cakes.
Milk: Adds moisture so the flour hydrates into a spoonable batter.

The step that matters

Frying the cakes in hot butter. If the butter is not hot enough, the cakes absorb grease and steam instead of browning, and they may fall apart. Frying over steady heat sets the surface and gives a crisp, golden exterior.

“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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Mock Oysters of Green Corn