Why it works: Buttermilk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,986 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Kentucky Corn Egg-bread
Ingredients
Directions
Combine one and one half pints of meal, one pint of buttermilk, one egg, a small teaspoonful of soda, one teaspoon of salt, and one tablespoon of lard.
Mix well and bake quickly.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
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.
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Buttermilk + eggtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,986 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meal
- Forms the main structure of the bread as its starch sets during baking.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the soda to help the bread rise.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps give the crumb structure as it sets.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and helps the crust brown.
- Soda (in the method)
- Produces gas with the acidic buttermilk, lifting the batter as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake quickly after mixing. Soda and acidic buttermilk start releasing gas as soon as they are combined. Getting the batter into the oven promptly keeps that gas trapped so the bread rises well instead of losing lift while it waits.
“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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