Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Spoon Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
Sift together one cup of yellow or white cornmeal, half a teaspoon of salt, and two teaspoons of baking powder.
Beat two eggs very lightly and stir into the dry ingredients with one quart of sweet milk.
Bake and serve
Turn the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish holding three pints, and add two tablespoons of butter cut into small pieces.
Bake in a hot oven about one-half hour.
Stir often until the bread begins to thicken.
Serve with a spoon from the dish in which it is baked.
Eat with butter.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yellow or white cornmeal
- Provides the main structure and body of the bread as its starch sets during baking.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help give the bread its light, set structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the bread rises and becomes airy.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the cornmeal and supplies the moisture that makes the bread tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
The step that matters
Stir often until the bread begins to thicken. As the batter heats, the cornmeal starch swells and thickens. Stirring keeps the mixture smooth and prevents it from settling, sticking, or forming lumps before it sets.
“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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