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 ↓
Corn Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Select young corn and scrape out the pulp using a sharp knife.
In a bowl, combine the corn pulp, milk, beaten eggs, and butter.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and place it in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C).
Stir occasionally until the mixture begins to thicken.
Add salt to taste and continue baking until lightly browned, about 1.5 hours.
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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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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Milk + eggtop 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
- Young corn pulp
- Provides the main bulk and sweet corn flavor of the pudding.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and creates the custard base that sets as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Set the mixture into a soft, sliceable pudding structure as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer texture and flavor.
The step that matters
Stirring as the mixture thickens. Eggs set into a custard when heated gently; stirring occasionally during thickening keeps the mixture even and prevents curdled or lumpy pockets forming near the hot dish edges.
“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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