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Dessert

Entire Corn-Meal or Wheat-Meal Gems

A quick muffin made with cornmeal or wheatmeal, baking powder, syrup, and egg, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Entire Corn-Meal or Wheat-Meal Gems

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Sift together the cornmeal, salt, and baking powder twice.

  2. Return the bran to the mixture.

  3. Add the beaten egg, the melted shortening, and the syrup.

  4. Add enough liquid to make a medium consistency batter.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into greased muffin or gem pans, filling them about half full.

  2. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in a fairly hot oven (350°F / 175°C).

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 + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,678 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Syrup + milktop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,484 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn meal or wheat meal
Forms the main structure and gives the gems their grainy texture.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the gems rise and turn light.
Shortening
Adds fat for tenderness and a richer mouthfeel.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown as it bakes.
Liquid (milk or water)
Hydrates the cornmeal so the batter reaches a spoonable consistency.

The step that matters

Adding the liquid to a medium consistency. Cornmeal absorbs liquid slowly and the batter thickens as it stands. Too little liquid gives dense, crumbly gems, and too much gives flat, gummy ones. Adjust within the stated range until the batter is spoonable.

“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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