Name: Sponge Corn Bread
Ingredients: one cup flour; one-half cup of corn- meal; one quarter cups milk; one-half teaspoonful salt; one teaspoonful butter; two teaspoonfuls star crystal baking powder; two eggs well beaten; 13 one teaspoonful butter

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

Sponge Corn Bread

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together one cup flour, two eggs well beaten, one-half cup cornmeal, one and one quarter cups milk, and one-half teaspoon salt.
Add one teaspoon butter, melted, and two teaspoons Star Crystal Baking Powder; mix in the order given.
Pour batter into a shallow round pan or square cake tin and bake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

784Calories

27 gProtein

26 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
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.

By Clarke, Mary Lamson. [from old catalog]. 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,345 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Flour and butter 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

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the crumb together.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
Cornmeal (in the method): Gives the bread its coarse, grainy texture and corn flavor.
Milk: Adds moisture and hydrates the flour and cornmeal.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the cornbread rise.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.