Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Delicious Corn Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Soak the cornmeal
Scald the cornmeal with the milk the night before using.
Mix and bake
In the morning, add the egg yolks and melted butter to the mixture.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter just before baking.
Bake in thin pans at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main structure and body of the muffin crumb.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and softens the cornmeal during the overnight soak.
- Eggs
- Add structure, and beaten whites trap air that helps the muffins rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour.
The step that matters
Fold the beaten egg whites in gently, just before baking. Beaten whites hold air bubbles that expand in the oven and lift the batter. Stirring vigorously or waiting too long deflates the foam, leaving dense muffins.
“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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