Name: Old-Fashioned Johnny Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups buttermilk (or sour milk); 1 cup sifted flour; 2 cups sifted Indian meal; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 rounded teaspoon baking soda; 1 tablespoon warm water; 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or 2 for sweeter); 1 well-beaten egg; 3 tablespoons melted butter or lard

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Old-Fashioned Johnny Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Mix the batter

In a bowl, combine buttermilk, sugar, and salt.
Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to the mixture.
Stir in flour and Indian meal until well mixed.
Add melted butter and beaten egg, mixing until combined.

Bake

Pour into square baking pans and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
For a traditional method, bake in a covered iron spider until nearly done, then remove the cover to brown.

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.

Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Buttermilk: Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter and adds tang.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release carbon dioxide, helping the cake rise.
Indian meal: Cornmeal gives the cake its coarse, grainy texture and characteristic flavor.
Flour: Provides structure so the batter holds together after baking.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds richness and structure as it sets.
Butter or lard: Adds fat for tenderness and a rich, moist crumb.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in warm water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and mixed evenly into the acidic buttermilk so it reacts throughout the batter. Unevenly mixed soda can leave bitter pockets and uneven rising.

“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.

More johnny cake recipes

Apple 5 Corn 5 See all 200 →

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Old-Fashioned Johnny Cake