Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Nantucket 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
Grate or pound the corn until fine.
Make the pudding
In a large bowl, combine the corn, milk, brown sugar, salt, crushed soda crackers, and eggs.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 hours.
Serve warm with butter.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Young corn
- Provides the main body and sweet corn flavor of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its custard-like structure.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, keeping the pudding tender as it bakes.
- Soda crackers
- Crushed crackers add starch that helps thicken and bind the mixture.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a mild caramel note that enriches the flavor.
The step that matters
Bake in a moderate oven. Baking slowly at a moderate temperature lets the eggs set gently into a smooth custard. Too much heat can make the eggs curdle or the pudding turn watery and grainy.
“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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