Why it works: Corn and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,324 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Indian Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select young, tender corn with full-grown grains.
Strip off the outer leaves and silk, leaving the inner leaves.
Boil
Place the corn in a large pot and cover with plenty of water.
Boil the corn for three hours or more.
Drain the water and remove the leaves.
Serve
Serve the corn whole or cut off the kernels and mix with butter, pepper, and salt.
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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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh corn on the cob
- Provides the sweet kernels and starch that give the dish its main flavor and tender texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the kernels and carrying flavor.
The step that matters
Keep the corn fully covered while boiling. Keeping every part of the corn submerged ensures even cooking. Any exposed section heats unevenly and can dry out, leaving some kernels tough and others overcooked.
“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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