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 Breakfast Cakes
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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and heat the pans.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
In another bowl, combine the sweet milk, cornmeal, beaten eggs, and softened butter.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until combined.
Pour the batter into the hot pans.
Bake
Bake for 15 minutes or 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.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure as its proteins form gluten when stirred into the batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cakes rise.
- Cornmeal
- Gives the cakes their grainy texture and corn flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the dry ingredients and helps form the batter's texture.
The step that matters
Pour the batter into the hot pans. Batter poured into preheated pans starts setting and browning right away, which helps the cakes rise and form a golden crust. Cold pans would slow this and can leave the bottoms pale and dense.
“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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