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 ↓
Grated 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the pudding
In a bowl, mix the grated corn, egg yolks, melted butter, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until well combined.
Pour the mixture into buttered baking pans.
Bake and serve
Bake until set and lightly browned.
Serve with a sweet sauce.
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).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
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
- Cooked corn
- Provides the bulk and sweet corn flavor of the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Set during baking to give the pudding structure and a custard-like body.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a tender texture and browning.
- Milk
- Supplies liquid that thins the batter and helps it bake into a soft custard.
The step that matters
Baking until set. Egg yolks firm as they heat, so pulling the pudding too early leaves it runny, while baking too long can make it dry and grainy.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, egg, butter, milk, pepper):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, egg, butter, milk, pepper. 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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