Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Green Corn Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Grate the corn from the cob.
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately.
Make the pudding
Combine the corn and egg yolks in a bowl and stir well.
Gradually add the melted butter and milk while stirring continuously.
Mix in the sugar and then fold in the beaten egg whites and salt.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and cover it.
Bake
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for about one hour.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg yolks bind the corn and milk, while whipped whites lighten the pudding and help it set.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that gives the pudding its custard-like, moist body.
- Corn
- Supplies the main body, sweetness and flavor of the pudding.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that enriches the texture and carries flavor.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites. Whites hold air that lifts the mixture. Folding gently keeps that air in, so the pudding stays light instead of deflating and turning dense.
“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.
You might also like
The 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.

Corn Fritters203 recipes
Cream of Corn Soup50 recipes
Green Corn Soup46 recipes
Cornmeal Gruel41 recipes