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 ↓
Green Corn Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Run a knife through the center of the corn grains and scrape out the kernels.
In a bowl, combine the corn kernels, egg yolks, salt, and melted butter.
Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy; fold in a little of the egg white into the batter each time you fill the griddle.
Cook the cakes
Grease the griddle with butter and drop the batter in small cakes.
Cook until the edges look dry, then turn with a broad knife.
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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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn kernels
- Provide the main body, sweetness and flavour of the cakes.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the batter and add richness and tenderness.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to add lightness and help the cakes rise.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that gives lift. Folding gently, and adding them to each batch as you fill the griddle, keeps the air from collapsing and the cakes light.
“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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