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Corn Meal Puffs

A baked puff made from boiling water, cornmeal, sugar and beaten eggs, served hot with butter and maple syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Corn Meal Puffs

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.

Make the batter

  1. In a pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil.

  2. Stir in 4 tablespoons of corn meal and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool.

  5. Once cooled, add 3 well beaten eggs and mix well.

Bake and serve

  1. Grease cups with butter and pour in the mixture.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  3. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.

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 + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + maple syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,252 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + maple syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,084 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Corn meal
Cornmeal cooked in boiling water thickens into a soft base that gives the puffs their body.
Eggs
Beaten eggs set when baked, giving the puffs structure and lift.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the puffs brown lightly in the oven.

The step that matters

Let the cornmeal mixture cool before adding the eggs. Hot cornmeal would start cooking the beaten eggs unevenly, causing lumps and uneven setting. Cooling first lets the eggs blend smoothly into the batter.

“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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