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Bread

Good Housekeeping Corn and Rye Gems

Small muffin-style quick bread made from cornmeal, rye flour, molasses, milk and raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Good Housekeeping Corn and Rye Gems

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pour boiling water over the cornmeal and let it stand for ten minutes.

  2. Sift the baking soda into the molasses and stir until it foams.

  3. Add the foamed molasses to the softened cornmeal.

Make the batter

  1. Stir in the rye flour mixed with baking powder and salt, alternately with the milk.

  2. Fold in the raisins coated in a little flour.

  3. Fold in the melted shortening and mix well.

Bake

  1. Bake in muffin pans for half an hour at 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Rye + raisintop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Provides the main body and structure, softened first by boiling water so it absorbs moisture.
Rye flour
Adds structure and a distinctive earthy flavour to the batter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and dark colour, and reacts with baking soda to lift the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas that makes the gems rise.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Milk
Hydrates the flours and binds the batter into a pourable mixture.

The step that matters

Sifting the baking soda into the molasses and stirring until it foams. Baking soda reacts with acidic molasses to release carbon dioxide, which lifts the batter. Stir gently and move on promptly, because the gas escapes and the rise weakens if the batter sits too long.

“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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