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 ↓
Green Corn Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix the corn with butter, salt, and pepper.
In a separate bowl, make a batter by combining eggs, flour, baking powder, a little salt, and milk.
Stir the corn mixture into the batter until well combined.
Fry
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into boiling lard and fry until golden brown.
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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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the hot lard.
- Flour
- Forms the body of the batter that holds the fritters together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the fritters puff and stay light.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to flavor and a tender texture.
- Green corn
- Provides sweetness, moisture, and the main flavor of the fritters.
The step that matters
Frying in boiling lard. The lard must be hot enough that the batter sets and browns quickly on contact. If it is too cool, the spoonfuls absorb excess fat, turn greasy, and cook through unevenly before the outside is golden.
“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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