Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Hulled Corn or Home Made Hominy
Ingredients
Directions
Steep and wash
Steep the corn in weak lye for two days.
Wash the corn in two waters.
Cook
Boil the corn for about 4 hours or until tender.
If lye is unavailable, mix a handful of baking soda in enough water to cover the corn twice and steep in that.
Serve
Wash well before cooking and serve with salt and milk.
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 + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White corn
- Its kernels soften and swell during steeping and boiling, becoming tender enough to eat.
- Lye or baking soda
- The alkaline soak loosens the kernel hulls so they can be washed away and softens the kernels.
The step that matters
Wash well before cooking. Alkali left on the kernels after steeping can taste bitter or soapy and irritate the mouth. Rinsing in fresh water several times removes the residue before the long boil.
“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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