Name: Pop Corn
Ingredients: fresh lard; corn; Seville orange juice or lemon juice; steam syrup

Why it works: Corn and orange work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 586 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pop Corn

Ingredients

fresh lard
corn
Seville orange juice or lemon juice
steam syrup

Directions

Heat fresh lard in a pan until boiling.
Drop in the corn and cover tightly to prevent popping out.
Once popping is done, remove the corn and drain in a colander.
Heat steam syrup and flavor with Seville orange juice or lemon juice.
Simmer the syrup, then drop in the corn and let it simmer for ten minutes.
Remove the corn in large lumps and lay on buttered dishes to cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Corn + orangetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together586 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,678 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Orange + syruptop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,179 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).