Name: Marie Paidar
Ingredients: quarter cup of sugar; one tablespoon of melted butter; one-half teaspoon of salt; one cup of milk; two teaspoons of baking powder sifted; half cup yellow cornmeal; 56 prague chapter book of recipes johnny cake -- quarter cup of sugar; one egg; one cup of flour

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Marie Paidar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine sugar, melted butter, egg, salt, milk, baking powder, flour, and cornmeal. Mix thoroughly.

Bake and serve

Bake in a coffee cake pan for twenty minutes.
Serve hot with butter or maple syrup.

By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together78,219 recipes

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

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together92,116 recipes

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

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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

Flour: Forms the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the crumb.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Cornmeal: Adds a coarser texture and a toasty, corn flavour to the cake.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and cornmeal and adds moisture and tenderness.
Melted butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

“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.