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Succotash

A stew of corn, lima beans, and milk, seasoned with butter, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and lima beans work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 222 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Succotash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Strip the kernels from the corn using a sharp knife.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the corn, Lima beans, and veal stock (or water).

Cook and serve

  1. Simmer steadily until the moisture is absorbed and the corn and beans are tender.

  2. Add the milk, butter, pepper, and salt, then simmer until everything is well combined.

  3. Serve in a covered dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Corn + lima beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together222 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lima beans + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together414 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet corn
Provides the main sweetness and tender texture of the dish.
Lima beans
Add starchy body and a firm, creamy texture when simmered until tender.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, softening the mixture into a creamy finish.
Butter
Contributes fat for richness and a smooth, rounded flavour.

The step that matters

Simmer until the moisture is absorbed and the corn and beans are tender. Simmering too briskly can scorch the starches on the bottom of the pan, while stopping too early leaves the beans chalky. Gentle, steady heat cooks the starch evenly until the vegetables are tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick, cohesive texture.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, milk, butter, pepper, veal):

  1. Lima beansthe original
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Walnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, milk, butter, pepper, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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