Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Coen Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Mix Indian meal and flour together.
Sift cream of tartar into the flour mixture.
Stir in the milk until smooth.
Beat the yolks of the eggs and stir them in.
Melt the lard and add it to the mixture.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff foam and gently fold them in.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of boiling water and add it last.
Bake
Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Milk and flour 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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter and whites, whipped to foam, add lift and a light crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cornbread together as it bakes.
- Indian meal
- Gives the cornbread its coarse texture and characteristic corn flavour.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping the bread rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that works with the baking soda to produce rising and a tender crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour and meal to form a smooth batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to a stiff foam trap air that expands in the oven. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, so the cornbread rises less and turns denser.
“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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