Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Corn Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the corn
Scrape the corn kernels from the cobs carefully.
In a bowl, beat the egg whites and yolks separately.
Make the pudding
Mix the sugar, milk, and flour until smooth, then add to the corn.
Stir in the beaten eggs, melted butter, salt, and pepper.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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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Milk + buttertop 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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Flour + buttertop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Green corn
- Provides the main bulk and sweet flavor of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its structure and custard-like body.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, helping the pudding stay tender.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so the pudding holds together when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to a soft texture and flavor.
The step that matters
Beating the eggs separately. Beating the whites and yolks separately lets the whites be whipped for lift, while the yolks add richness. Overbaking can make egg proteins tighten and turn the pudding grainy or watery, so watch the bake closely.
“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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