Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Soft Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cook the hot grits until half done.
Mix and bake
In a bowl, mix the butter, eggs, milk, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder.
Add the half-cooked grits to the mixture and stir well.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set the cornbread structure as it bakes.
- Grits
- Provide the bulk and a soft, tender crumb when partly cooked first.
- Cornmeal
- Adds corn flavour and body to the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a moist, tender texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas as it bakes, helping the cornbread rise and stay light.
The step that matters
Cook the grits until half done. Grits that are fully cooked before baking can leave the cornbread dense and gritty, while undercooked grits stay hard. Cooking them only partway lets them finish softening in the oven and blend smoothly into the batter.
“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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