Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fried Green Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the corn
Cut the corn from the cob, ensuring no cob is included.
Cook
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the corn and separate the kernels.
Stir until the corn is delicately browned, using as little butter as possible.
Season with salt, pepper, and add the cream.
Do not allow the mixture to boil after adding the cream.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 dish itself; its sugars brown lightly in the pan for flavor and color.
- Butter
- Conducts heat and carries flavor, and its milk solids brown to add a nutty aroma.
- Rich cream
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the corn a smooth, silky coating.
The step that matters
Do not allow the mixture to boil after adding the cream. Cream can curdle or separate when boiled hard, which leaves a grainy, greasy texture. Keeping the heat gentle after adding it keeps the sauce smooth and cohesive.
“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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