Why it works: Corn and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,324 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Canned Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the sweet corn until boiling hot.
While hot, fill the tin cans with the corn.
When ready to use, drain the corn in a colander and rinse with cold water.
Add baking soda and sugar while cooking, then season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
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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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 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).
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Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 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
- Sweet corn
- Forms the bulk of the dish and provides its main texture and flavor.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH, which softens the corn and helps it keep a brighter color.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and rounds out the corn's flavor.
The step that matters
Fill the cans while the corn is hot. Filling hot drives air out of the corn and cans, which helps the product keep well and reduces the chance of spoilage. Letting the corn cool first lets air and bacteria settle in.
“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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