Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Corn Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Take one pint of sour milk, put into it a teaspoonful of soda, and beat it as you would eggs.
Stir into it a pint of meal and one teaspoonful of cream tartar.
Add the milk, stir them up quickly.
Bake
Bake half an hour in a tin cake-pan.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Sour Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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 + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the soda to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release carbon dioxide, giving the cornbread rise.
- Cream tartar
- Adds acid that works with the soda to leaven the batter and give a tender crumb.
- Meal
- Forms the body and structure of the cornbread once baked.
The step that matters
Stir quickly after adding the milk. The soda and acid start releasing gas as soon as they meet, so the batter should be mixed briskly and baked promptly to keep the rise from fading 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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