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Stewed Corn

A simple stew of corn, butter, and seasonings, finished with sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stewed Corn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shave the corn from the ear, avoiding cutting into the cob.

Stew the corn

  1. In a pot, combine the corn, butter, pepper, salt, and enough water to cover the corn.

  2. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring often.

  3. Add more water if necessary to prevent browning.

Finish and serve

  1. A few minutes before serving, stir in the sweet cream thickened with a little flour mixed in water.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn
Forms the main body of the dish and provides its sweet, starchy flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving a smooth mouthfeel.
Sweet cream
Enriches the liquid and, with flour, thickens it into a creamy coating.
Flour
Thickens the cream mixture so it clings to the corn rather than running thin.

The step that matters

Adding more water during stewing. Corn can scorch and brown on the bottom of the pot during long, low cooking. Keeping enough liquid in the pot prevents browning and keeps the corn moist and tender.

“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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