Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
Combine one quart of sour milk, three eggs well beaten, one teaspoon of salt, and one tablespoon of melted lard.
Add enough cornmeal to make a batter (not stiff).
Add one teaspoon of soda, the last thing.
Bake
Bake in shallow pans.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Sour Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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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
- Sour milk
- Provides liquid and acidity that reacts with the soda to help the bread rise.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding so the batter holds together after baking.
- Soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release gas, which lightens the crumb.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps it from drying out.
- Cornmeal (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the batter and gives the bread its structure and corn flavour.
The step that matters
Add the soda last. Soda reacts with the acid in the sour milk as soon as it is mixed in, releasing carbon dioxide bubbles. Stirring it in just before baking and getting the pans into the oven quickly keeps those bubbles from escaping, so the cornbread rises properly.
“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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