Why it works: Corn and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,324 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cokn Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the corn
Combine corn and water in a pot.
Cook until the corn is tender.
Thicken and finish
In a bowl, mix butter and flour until smooth.
Add the butter mixture to the pot and let it boil for 15 minutes.
Beat the egg and stir it into the soup along with pepper and salt before serving.
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.
-
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Corn
- Forms the main body and natural sweetness of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor through the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
- Egg
- Enriches the soup and adds body as it sets into the liquid.
The step that matters
Stirring in the beaten egg. Egg proteins set when they meet heat, so pouring it in too fast or leaving it unstirred can leave cooked strands instead of a smooth, creamy soup. Stir steadily as it goes in.
“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.
More corn soup recipes
You might also like
Corn Fritters203 recipes
Cornmeal Gruel41 recipes
Cornmeal Pudding32 recipes
Hulled Corn23 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.