Why it works: Corn and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Maize, or Indian Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut off the stem of the corn cobs.
Place the cobs in a pot with cold water and add salt.
Cook and serve
Boil slowly for 30 minutes or until tender.
Serve on toast with melted butter.
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 + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn cobs
- The main ingredient, softening and becoming tender as it simmers in the water.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water, flavouring the kernels as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that coats the cooked kernels.
The step that matters
Boil slowly until tender. A gentle boil cooks the kernels evenly and keeps them tender. Overcooked kernels become tough and starchy, so the cob should be checked for tenderness rather than cooked by time alone.
“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.
You might also like
Corn Fritters203 recipes
Cream of Corn Soup50 recipes
Green Corn Soup46 recipes
Cornmeal Gruel41 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.