Name: Imperial Corn Bread
Ingredients: 2 cups cornmeal; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 3 eggs; 2 cups milk; 1 tablespoon lard or butter; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 teaspoons baking powder

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 ↓

Imperial Corn Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and sugar.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk and melted lard or butter.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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: Forms the main body of the bread and gives it its gritty, grainy texture.
All-purpose flour: Adds gluten-forming structure so the bread holds together and is less crumbly.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Milk: Hydrates the dry ingredients and adds moisture and tenderness.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the cornbread rises and becomes light.
Lard or butter: Adds fat for tenderness, moistness and flavor.

The step that matters

Mix the wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Once liquid meets flour, gluten starts to form; overmixing makes the cornbread tough and dense. Stop when no dry streaks remain, leaving small lumps.

“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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Imperial Corn Bread