Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Corn Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Remove the kernels from the corn by cutting each row of grains in the center and shaving them into thin slices.
In a bowl, combine the corn, egg yolks, melted butter, corn starch, sugar, coarse sea salt, and fresh milk. Mix well.
Gradually fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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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
- Corn
- Provides the main body and sweet flavor of the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set into a tender, sliceable texture when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in, they add lift and a lighter, airier texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the liquid so the pudding holds its shape rather than running.
- Fresh milk
- Supplies liquid and richness, forming the custard base with the eggs.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stiffly beaten whites hold air that gives lift. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing and preserves a light 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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