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 ↓
Baked Corn
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cut the kernels off the corn.
In a bowl, beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately.
Mix and bake
Mix the beaten eggs with sugar, flour, melted butter, salt, pepper, and milk.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Proteins set during baking, giving the dish its custard-like structure.
- Corn
- Kernels provide the main body and natural sweetness of the dish.
- Milk
- Liquid that moistens the mixture and keeps the finished dish tender.
- Butter
- Fat that adds richness and a softer texture.
- Flour
- A small amount of starch that helps thicken and steady the mixture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and supports light browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes. Egg proteins set gradually as the custard heats. Too much heat or too long in the oven makes the eggs curdle and turn rubbery, so check for a set centre rather than relying only on the timer.
“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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