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 ↓
Corn Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a pot, combine corn and water; bring to a boil.
Cook until the corn is tender.
Make the soup
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 in a separate bowl, then stir it into the soup.
Season 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.
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 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).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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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 bulk of the soup and gives it its sweet, starchy body.
- Sweet butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as it boils, giving it body.
- Egg
- Enriches the soup and adds a little extra thickness and silkiness.
The step that matters
Stirring in the beaten egg. Egg proteins set when heated, so pouring it into very hot soup can cook it into loose threads or small bits. Stirring steadily while adding it helps it disperse into a smooth, silky texture.
“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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