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 ↓
Hominy Puff
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix and bake
In a bowl, combine the cold hominy, beaten eggs, sweet milk, baking powder, salt, and melted butter, and mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until set and golden brown.
Serve
Serve as an entree or with sugar and cream as a dessert.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 set into a firm, custard-like structure when baked.
- Hominy
- Provides the bulk and starchy body of the puff.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies the liquid that cooks with the eggs into a tender custard texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the mixture rises and puffs.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
The step that matters
Baking until set and golden brown. Eggs set as their proteins coagulate with heat. Underbaking leaves the centre liquid, while overbaking makes the puff dry and rubbery.
“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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