Why it works: Milk and butter 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 Puddings
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the pudding
In a large bowl, combine the grated corn, milk, eggs, salt, melted butter, and grated nutmeg. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for 1 hour until set and golden.
Serve with sauce of your choice.
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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Milk + buttertop 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 + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and a tender texture.
- Sweet green corn
- Provides the main flavor and sweetness, along with starch that thickens the pudding.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the pudding runny while overbaking makes it curdled and dry. Baking until just set and golden gives a firm but tender custard.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, milk, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Parsleyfits less well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, milk, egg, butter. 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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