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Boiled Corn on the Cob

A simple boiled corn on the cob seasoned with salt, butter, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Boiled Corn on the Cob

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the outer leaves and silk from the corn, then cover it with the innermost husk.

  2. Tie the husk at the top with a bit of thread.

Cook and serve

  1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the corn for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on size and age.

  2. Cut off the stalks close to the cob and serve wrapped in a napkin.

  3. Alternatively, cut the corn from the cob while hot and season with butter, pepper, and salt before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 that are the main substance of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and coats the hot kernels.

The step that matters

Cook for the right time. Corn cooked too long becomes tough and loses sweetness, while undercooked kernels stay starchy and bland. Size and age change the timing, so check the kernels for tenderness.

“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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