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
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
Rub the sweet corn through a colander into a bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well.
Make the batter
Combine the corn, beaten eggs, and milk in a mixing bowl.
Add salt to taste and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set and lightly browned.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet corn
- Provides the main body, sweetness and moisture of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, binding the corn and milk into a firm, sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the custard stay tender as it sets.
The step that matters
Bake until set and lightly browned. Eggs set as their proteins coagulate with heat. Pulling the dish too early leaves a runny centre, while overbaking makes the custard dry and rubbery.
“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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