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 ↓
Baked Corn
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
Cut the kernels off the corn.
In a bowl, beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately.
Mix and bake
Mix the beaten eggs with sugar, flour, melted butter, salt, pepper, and milk.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes.
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).
-
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Flour + buttertop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Tender uncooked corn
- Provides the main body and natural sweetness of the dish.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its firm, custard-like structure.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture and a smooth, tender texture as it cooks with the eggs.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more delicate crumb.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture slightly, helping it hold together when set.
The step that matters
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes. Egg proteins set as the custard heats. Overbaking makes the eggs tighten and weep, leaving the texture rubbery and watery, so check for a firm center rather than relying only on the clock.
“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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