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Johnny Cake, II.

A quick bread made with Indian meal, flour, molasses, eggs, and milk, baked at 400°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Johnny Cake, II.

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine the Indian meal, baking soda, and salt.

  2. In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sweet milk and molasses.

  3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing until smooth.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

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.

  1. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

Indian meal
Forms the main body of the cake, giving it its coarse, crumbly structure.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acid to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Flour
Adds structure so the batter holds its shape while baking.
Milk
Hydrates the dry ingredients and adds moisture to the batter.

The step that matters

Combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing until smooth. Mixing until smooth without overworking keeps the batter evenly hydrated. Once the liquid meets the baking soda and molasses, the gas bubbles begin forming, so the batter should go into the oven promptly to rise well.

“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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