Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Cream of Corn Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the corn
Shave the corn off the cob or chop the canned corn.
Make the soup
Heat the milk in a saucepan and add the chopped onion.
Cook slowly for 10 minutes.
Strain out the onion and thicken the milk with butter and flour.
Boil for 3 minutes.
Combine the thickened milk with the mashed corn in a soup pot.
Add chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.
Cook for 3 minutes.
Beat well.
If using stock, thicken it with a white roux instead of milk.
Cook with the corn for 5 minutes.
Pour the puree over 2 beaten eggs in a tureen and mix well before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 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
- Corn
- Provides the main body, sweetness and flavour of the soup.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and helps build the thickened base with flour.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, lightly bodied base.
- Onion
- Adds savory aroma and depth to the milk as it heats.
- Eggs
- Enriches and thickens the soup when beaten in at the end.
The step that matters
Pour the puree over 2 beaten eggs in a tureen and mix well before serving.. Adding hot soup to beaten eggs gradually, while stirring, tempers them so they thicken smoothly. Pouring too fast or letting the soup boil after adding eggs can scramble them.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, milk, butter, flour, parsley, pepper, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, milk, butter, flour, parsley, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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