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Bread

North Carolina Egg Bread

A quick, moist bread made with cornmeal, milk, egg, and lard, baked in muffin rings or a loaf pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

North Carolina Egg Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

  1. Mix the milk and cornmeal until smooth like cake dough.

  2. Add the well-beaten egg and salt, then mix again.

  3. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.

  4. Stir in the baking powder and baking soda.

  5. Beat the mixture for 5 minutes.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour into greased muffin rings or a loaf pan.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

  3. Serve hot with butter and buttermilk.

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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Forms the bulk of the batter and gives the bread its grainy, sturdy crumb.
Egg
Adds structure and richness, helping the bread hold its shape as it sets.
Milk
Supplies moisture that hydrates the cornmeal into a smooth, pourable batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the wet batter and heat, making the bread rise and lighten.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir in the baking powder and baking soda.. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it gets wet, so the batter should go into the pan and oven promptly. Waiting too long lets the gas escape before baking, leaving a denser loaf.

“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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