Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Canned Corn Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the corn
Chop the corn very finely.
Add boiling water and minced onion; stew for 45 minutes after boiling.
Rinse through a colander into a saucepan.
Finish and serve
Add salt, pepper, and butter rolled in flour.
Heat milk in another vessel.
After simmering the corn puree for 5 more minutes, combine with the milk in a tureen.
Stir well.
Serve.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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 (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the soup, giving it its bulk and sweet flavour.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and helps give the soup body as it cooks.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and mildness, softening the corn's flavour and thinning the puree.
The step that matters
Simmering the corn puree with the flour-butter. Flour thickens only when it is heated long enough to cook out its raw taste and swell with liquid. Keep the soup at a gentle simmer and stir, since flour-thickened soups can scorch on the base or turn lumpy if they boil hard or are left unattended.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, flour, parsley, milk):
- Potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, flour, parsley, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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