Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Spoon Corn Bread
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the buttermilk and sweet milk.
Add the baking soda and lard, mixing well.
Gradually stir in the sifted cornmeal until combined.
Pour the mixture into an earthen dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for 1 hour.
Serve with a spoon.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + buttermilktop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,986 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Buttermilk + milktop 41% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that helps the cornbread rise.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the bread and gives it its characteristic texture.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavour.
The step that matters
Add the baking soda and lard, mixing well. Baking soda needs acid from the buttermilk to release gas. If it is not mixed evenly through the batter, pockets of leavening will be uneven, giving a dense or patchy rise.
“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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