Why it works: Corn and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Pudding with Tomato
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
Cut the corn off the ear and scrape it with a knife, leaving a few whole grains.
Beat the eggs with the milk and season with butter, pepper, and salt.
Stir in the scraped corn.
Add the stewed tomatoes and mix well.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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 + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that bakes into a soft, custardy texture.
- Corn
- Adds sweetness and body, with bits of whole grain giving texture.
- Stewed tomatoes
- Add moisture and a mild acidity and sweetness to the pudding.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the pudding heats, so it firms into a custard. Removing it too early leaves it runny, while overbaking can make it dry and curdled.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, butter, pepper, corn, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, butter, pepper, corn, sugar. 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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