Why it works: Milk and butter 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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the corn
Score down the center of each row of corn with a sharp knife and press out the pulp with the back of the blade.
Make and bake
In a bowl, mix the corn pulp with milk, melted butter, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, and flour.
Turn the mixture into a well-greased pudding dish.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until firm in the center.
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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Milk + buttertop 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set into a firm, custard-like pudding when baked.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture so the pudding holds its shape rather than running.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that gives the pudding its moist, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
- Grated corn
- Supplies the main body, sweetness and flavor of the pudding.
The step that matters
Bake until firm in the center. Egg proteins set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the middle loose and wet, while overbaking can make the custard tough and dry. Checking for a firm center helps hit the right point.
“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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