Name: Corn Griddle Cakes with Water
Ingredients: 1 pint corn meal; 1 tablespoon lard; boiling water; cold water; 2 eggs, well beaten; 1 large pinch coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon syrup

Why it works: Corn and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,678 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Corn Griddle Cakes with Water

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine corn meal and lard.
Pour in boiling water to create a stiff mush.
Thin the mixture with cold water as needed.
Add the beaten eggs, coarse sea salt, and syrup.
Mix until well combined and smooth.

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.

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.

Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,678 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,484 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Egg + syruptop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,995 recipes