Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Cake
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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and bake the batter
In a bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, molasses or sugar, and baking soda.
Add milk and water gradually to form a batter.
Pour the batter into a baking pan.
Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
Variation
For a variation, fry the mixture on a griddle like buckwheat cakes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the cake and gives it its coarse, corn-based texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the cake holds together better than cornmeal alone.
- Molasses or sugar
- Adds sweetness and promotes browning in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter's acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Add milk and water gradually. Cornmeal absorbs liquid slowly and unevenly. Adding liquid in stages lets you reach a smooth, pourable batter without lumps or a stiff, dry mix that bakes unevenly.
“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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