Name: Corn Bread
Ingredients: 1 egg; 1 cup molasses or sugar; 1 cup sour milk; 2 cups sweet milk; 2 cups wheat flour; 3 cups corn meal; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt

Why it works: Wheat and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Corn Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

In a large bowl, combine the egg, molasses (or sugar), sour milk, sweet milk, wheat flour, corn meal, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a two-quart basin.

Steam and bake

Steam for 1 hour.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 1 hour.

Serve

Serve warm for dinner or cold with butter or milk.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Wheat + corntop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together465 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets.
Sour milk: Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the bread rises.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas for rising.
Corn meal: Provides the main body and the characteristic corn flavour and texture.
Wheat flour: Adds gluten-based structure that holds the crumb together.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture and a deeper colour to the crumb.

“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.