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 ↓
Corn Pudding for Breakfast
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Grate the corn and combine it with the milk in a large bowl.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth.
Combine and bake
Fold the egg yolk mixture into the corn mixture, then gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake for 4 hours until set and golden.
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).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 bulk, natural sweetness and body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture and the liquid that the eggs set into a custard.
- Eggs
- Yolks set the custard for structure, and whipped whites add lightness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top turn golden during baking.
- Flour
- Thickens the custard slightly so it holds its shape when set.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites trap air that gives the pudding lift. Overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a denser, flatter result.
“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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