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 ↓
Corn Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the cornmeal and flour.
In another bowl, mix the sour milk with the beaten eggs.
Make the batter
Add the cornmeal mixture to the egg and milk mixture alternately.
In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in a little milk and add it to the mixture.
Finally, mix in the softened butter and sugar until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 20 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.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Cornmeal
- Provides the coarse, grainy texture and characteristic corn flavor of the cake.
- All-purpose flour
- Gives the cake structure so it holds together rather than crumbling.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release carbon dioxide, leavening the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
The step that matters
Dissolving and mixing in the baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid, such as the sour milk, to produce gas for rising. Dissolving it fully in a little milk before adding it helps distribute it evenly, so the cake rises uniformly rather than in patches.
“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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