Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix baking soda, sugar, cream of tartar, egg, sweet milk, cornmeal, flour, and salt to create a thin batter.
Make the mush
To make mush, boil fresh water in a kettle with a pinch of salt.
Stir in cornmeal or oatmeal gradually until thickened.
Cook the mush well, then pour it into an earthen dish to cool.
Fry the slices
Once cooled, cut into slices, dip each slice in beaten egg, and fry on a hot griddle.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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
- Binds the mixture and coats the slices so they brown on the griddle.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping it rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that reacts with baking soda, adding lift and a slight tang.
- Cornmeal
- Gives the batter body and a grainy, toothy texture.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the cornmeal and flour and adds richness.
- Flour
- Adds structure that helps the cakes hold their shape.
The step that matters
Cool the mush before slicing. As cooked cornmeal mush cools, its starches set and firm up. Slicing it while still hot would give soft, crumbling pieces that break apart in the pan.
“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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