Why it works: Meat and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Nut Scrabble
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
In a double boiler, combine cornmeal, hominy, salt, and enough boiling water to achieve a fryable consistency.
Cook for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and mix in ground hickory nut meat.
Set and fry
Pour the mixture into a buttered pan and let it cool.
Once cooled, slice and fry in hot lard until golden.
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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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the thick body of the mush that holds the patties together.
- Hominy
- Adds body and a coarse, tender texture to the cooked mixture.
- Ground hickory nut meat
- Adds fat and a rich, nutty flavour to the patties.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool fully before slicing. Cornmeal mush sets as it cools, firming up as starch gels. Slicing or frying it while still warm and soft can cause the patties to break apart.
“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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