Why it works: Corn and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,069 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the scraped corn, sweet milk, eggs, salt, and baking powder.
Thicken the mixture with flour until it reaches a batter-like consistency.
Fry and serve
Heat pork gravy or lard in a skillet over medium heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides.
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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Corn + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,069 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Milk + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,386 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Bind the batter and help the cakes hold their shape while frying.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cakes rise and turn light.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture so it holds together as a batter rather than running.
- Scraped corn
- Provides the main body, sweetness and corn flavour of the cakes.
The step that matters
Frying the batter in hot fat. The fat must be hot before the spoonfuls go in, so the outside sets and browns quickly. Cold fat lets the batter soak up grease and turn heavy and greasy.
“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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