Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Corn Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the corn stock
Cut the corn from the cobs.
Boil the cobs in the water until reduced by half.
Strain the water.
Make the soup
Cook the corn in the strained water for 15 minutes.
Add the milk, butter mixed with flour, salt, and pepper.
Boil for a few more minutes.
Alternatively, boil 1 quart of sweet milk.
Add a can of sweet corn.
Strain through a colander and return to the stove.
Season with salt, pepper, and butter.
Let it boil once.
Add 2 tablespoons of cracker crumbs.
Serve immediately.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Provides the main body and sweet corn flavor of the soup.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness to the liquid.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a rounder flavor.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells when heated.
- Cracker crumbs (in the method)
- Add body and further thicken the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the milk and floured butter. Flour thickens by starch swelling when heated, so it should be blended smoothly with the butter before it goes in, or it can clump. Milk scorches easily on the bottom of the pot, so keep the heat moderate and stir while it boils.
“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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