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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the corn
Split the corn down the middle and shave off the outside.
Scrape all the juice from the cobs.
Make the pudding
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with the butter.
Add the sweet milk and the corn to the mixture.
Pour into a baking pan and grate nutmeg on top.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until brown.
Serve with rich cream.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green corn
- Provides the main bulk and sweet flavour of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its custard-like structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, more tender texture.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies liquid that combines with the eggs to form a custard.
The step that matters
Bake until brown. Baking long enough lets the egg proteins set into a firm custard, while browning the top adds flavour. Pulling it too early can leave a loose, wet centre.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, egg, sugar, butter, milk, cream):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, egg, sugar, butter, milk, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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