Name: Amish Cornbread II
Ingredients: 1 cup amish starter; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 cups milk; 2 teaspoons sugar; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 1 1/2 cups cornmeal; 1/4 cup vegetable oil; 3/4 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking powder

Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

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.

Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Amish starter: Adds fermented tang and moisture, giving the cornbread its distinctive flavour and crumb.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Cornmeal: Provides the main body and grainy texture of the cornbread.
All-purpose flour: Adds structure and helps the crumb hold together.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidity in the starter to lift the batter and help it rise.
Baking powder: Provides additional lift so the cornbread rises in the oven.

The step that matters

Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan. Batter that sits too long after the leaveners are mixed in loses rising power, so it should go into the pan and into the oven promptly.

“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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Amish Cornbread II