Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Rich Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, and salt.
In another bowl, combine the cream (or milk and eggs) with the baking soda dissolved in hot water.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Sift the cream of tartar into the flour mixture and stir until combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and heat to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acid that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise and keeps it tender.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the cake a richer, softer crumb.
- White cornmeal
- Gives the cake its coarse, grainy texture and corn flavor.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides gluten-forming structure that holds the cake together.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
The step that matters
Sift the cream of tartar into the flour mixture and stir until combined. Baking soda and cream of tartar react as soon as they meet liquid, so the batter should go into the oven promptly after mixing to keep the rising gas from escaping.
“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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