Why it works: Milk and corn 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 ↓
Corn Muffins—southern Style
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.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg and mix in the melted shortening and sour milk or buttermilk.
In another bowl, combine the corn meal, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Pour the batter into greased muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 full.
Bake and serve
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool slightly before serving.
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 + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + corntop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Eggs
- Binds the batter and adds structure as the muffins set in the oven.
- Sour milk or buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that tenderizes the crumb and reacts with the baking soda.
- Corn meal
- Provides the main body and the characteristic corn flavor and texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic milk to produce gas that makes the muffins rise.
- Melted shortening
- Adds fat that keeps the muffins tender and moist.
The step that matters
Stir the dry ingredients in just until combined. Overmixing develops gluten and gives tough, tunnelled muffins. Stopping once the flour and liquid are just combined keeps the crumb tender, and the batter should stay lumpy.
“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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