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
Scrape the corn from the cobs.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and whites separately.
Make the pudding
Mix the corn with the beaten egg yolks, sugar, flour mixed with butter, salt, and pepper.
Stir in the milk until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Corn
- Provides the main body and sweetness of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, giving the pudding its structure and custard-like texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and makes the mixture a pourable custard that softens as it bakes.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture slightly so it holds together after baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, softening the texture and adding flavor.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites separately. Whites beaten separately are meant to be folded in or added so the pudding rises lightly; overbeating or deflating them changes the texture. Eggs set as they heat, so the bake time matters as well.
“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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