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 gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
If using fresh corn, remove the kernels from the ears.
Scald the cornmeal in a small amount of milk.
Mix and bake
In a bowl, combine the corn, eggs, milk, butter, salt, cayenne pepper, and sugar.
Stir in the scalded cornmeal.
Pour the mixture into a greased 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).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the custard and help it set into a soft, sliceable pudding when baked.
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the mixture and adds body to the pudding's texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that bakes into a custard-like texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
- Corn
- Supplies the main sweet flavor and bulk of the pudding.
The step that matters
Scald the cornmeal in a small amount of milk. Scalding hydrates the cornmeal starch so it thickens evenly, rather than leaving raw, grainy pockets that stay gritty after baking.
“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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