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 ↓
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
Drain the liquid from the corn and chop the kernels very fine.
In a bowl, combine the corn, beaten eggs, sugar, salt, and milk mixed with baking soda.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and cover.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Uncover and bake until browned.
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 + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that forms a soft, creamy custard base with the eggs.
- Corn
- Supplies the main body and texture, with natural sweetness from the kernels.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during the final bake.
The step that matters
Uncover and bake until browned. Egg custards set through gentle heat, and overbaking pushes the eggs past their setting point, making the pudding dry, grainy, or watery. Check for a set centre and a golden top, then remove it from the oven.
“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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