Why it works: Wheat and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Mrs. B.'s Corn Bread
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).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine sour milk, eggs, lard or butter, sugar, salt, and wheat flour.
Add enough sifted corn meal to create a good batter.
Stir in the baking soda thoroughly.
Bake
Pour the batter into a long dripping pan and bake until golden brown.
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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Wheat + corntop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together465 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce rising gas and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- They bind the batter and add structure as the bread sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- It reacts with the acidic sour milk to lift the batter and help it rise.
- Corn meal
- It forms the body of the bread and gives it its characteristic grainy texture and flavor.
- Lard or butter
- Fat coats the flour and corn meal particles, adding tenderness and moisture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Stir in the baking soda thoroughly. Baking soda reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release gas. If it is not evenly mixed, pockets of soda can cause bitter spots and uneven rising, so stir it through the whole batter before baking.
“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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