Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fine Hominy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the hominy overnight.
In a saucepan, bring 6 quarts of lightly salted boiling water to a boil.
Cook
Slowly add the soaked hominy while stirring with a wooden spoon.
Let it boil slowly, stirring occasionally from the bottom, until well cooked and similar to mush.
If too thick, add a little more hot water or milk.
Serve
Serve with butter, cream, and sugar.
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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hominy
- Provides the starchy base that thickens into a mush as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the finished mush for serving.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a softer, smoother mouthfeel when served.
The step that matters
Stirring from the bottom while it boils slowly. Starchy grains settle and scorch on the bottom of the pan, and the mush can stick and burn. Stirring from the bottom keeps the grains moving and the heat even while the starch thickens.
“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.
More hominy recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.