Southern Cornbread I

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 + milktop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together78,219 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together106,462 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Flour and milk 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

Yellow cornmeal

Provides the coarse grain structure and the characteristic corn flavour of the cornbread.

Flour

Gives the crumb its structure by forming gluten and holding the batter together.

Baking powder

Releases gas in the hot oven, lifting the batter so the cornbread rises and stays light.

Egg

Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.

Skim milk

Hydrates the dry ingredients so they form a batter and adds moisture to the crumb.

The step that matters