Name: Soft Corn Bread
Ingredients: 1 large egg, beaten; 1 cup cornmeal; 1 tablespoon melted lard; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 cup fine corn grits; 1½ cups milk; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix the beaten egg, cornmeal, melted lard, baking powder, corn grits, milk, and salt until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased biscuit pan.

Bake and serve

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm with a spoon.

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.

Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Corn grits + milktop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + corn gritstop 50% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4 recipes