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 ↓
Hominy Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine warm hominy, salt, butter, cream, and eggs.
Add flour to thicken the mixture.
Cook and serve
Heat a griddle over medium heat and pour the mixture onto it.
Fry until golden brown on both sides.
Serve hot.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Hominy
- Forms the body of the cake, giving it its corn flavour and tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help set the cakes as they cook.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture so it holds its shape on the griddle.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the cakes.
The step that matters
Frying on the griddle. Medium heat lets the centre set while the outside browns. Too hot and the surface burns before the inside cooks; too cool and the cakes stay pale and soft.
“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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