Why it works: Bread and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,145 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Mix and season
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix the corn with the bread crumbs, milk, and beaten egg.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
Assemble and bake
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Sprinkle buttered dried crumbs over the top.
Bake until nicely browned on top.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Bread + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,363 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Corn + milktop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,953 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Egg + breadtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22,584 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
- Eggs
- Binds the mixture and sets into a custard as it bakes, holding the casserole together.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and egg, giving the casserole body and a soft, spoonable texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a tender custard with the egg.
- Corn
- Provides the main flavour and sweetness, along with moisture and bulk.
The step that matters
Bake until nicely browned on top. The egg proteins set the custard gradually in the oven, and the buttered crumbs brown through browning reactions. Pulling the dish too early leaves it loose, while overbaking can make it dry and tough.
“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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