Name: Pop Corn
Ingredients: 1 handful of translucent corn; salt to taste; butter to taste; thick sugar syrup or molasses (optional)

Why it works: Corn and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Pop Corn

Ingredients

1 handful of translucent corn
salt to taste
butter to taste
thick sugar syrup or molasses (optional)

Directions

Pop the corn

Shell the corn and place a handful in a wire popper or frying pan.
Cover tightly with a lid if using a frying pan.
Add a little salt and butter.
Shake constantly over a hot fire, being careful not to burn.
When the popping ceases, it is done and ready to eat.

Make popcorn balls

For popcorn balls, mix with thick sugar syrup or boiled-down molasses.
Press into balls with oiled hands.

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.

Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,345 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,168 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

Translucent corn: Its hard starchy kernels expand into popcorn when heated, forming the base of the snack.
Butter: Adds fat and flavour and helps the kernels brown lightly as they heat.
Thick sugar syrup or molasses: Adds sweetness and sticky body so the popped corn holds together in balls.