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 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and bake the batter
In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, sweet milk, melted butter, eggs, sugar, cream of tartar, and baking soda until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the cake and gives it its grainy, sturdy structure.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the cornmeal so the batter can set evenly.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cornmeal batter can look set on top while the center is still wet. Checking the center with a toothpick confirms the eggs and starch have set through, so the cake is not dense or gummy.
“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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