Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Corn Dodger
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix cornmeal and salt.
Pour boiling water over the mixture and stir until smooth.
Add butter and milk, mixing well.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15-20 minutes 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the muffins and gives them their corn flavour and grainy texture.
- Boiling water
- Swells the cornmeal and softens it so the batter becomes smooth.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it can be dropped by spoonfuls.
The step that matters
Pour boiling water over the cornmeal and stir until smooth. Boiling water must fully hydrate the cornmeal; if it is added without thorough stirring, lumps stay dry and the batter bakes unevenly.
“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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