Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Virginia Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Dissolve a tablespoonful of butter in three and a half pints of boiling milk.
Add one quart of India meal to the mixture.
When cool, add half a pint of wheat flour, a little sugar, a teaspoonful of salt, and two eggs, well beaten. Mix well together.
Bake
Bake in two cake pans, well battered.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Wheat | not in our table | 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.
-
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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
- India meal
- Forms the main body of the bread, giving it its coarse, crumbly structure.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set in the oven.
- Wheat flour
- Adds gluten-based structure and helps the bread hold together alongside the cornmeal.
- Milk (in the method)
- Hydrates the cornmeal and adds moisture and tenderness to the crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.
The step that matters
Add the eggs after the mixture cools. Eggs added to very hot mixture can scramble and become lumpy, so letting the batter cool first keeps it smooth and lets the eggs blend in evenly before baking.
“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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