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 ↓
Hominy 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 the custard
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
Add the sugar and then the milk, mixing well.
Pour this mixture onto the hominy, mixing slowly with a fork to break up lumps.
Add the melted butter and mix until combined.
If the hominy is properly salted, add only ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Bake and serve
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until firm, about 30 minutes.
Serve with sauce or 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.
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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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Set the pudding into a firm, sliceable custard as they cook.
- Hominy
- Provides the bulk and body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness, helping the custard stay tender when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother, more tender texture.
The step that matters
Breaking up lumps in the hominy mixture. Pouring in the liquid and mixing slowly with a fork keeps the batter smooth. Lumps of hominy or unmixed egg can bake unevenly, leaving pockets of texture that do not set uniformly.
“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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