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Indian Bannocks

A baked cornmeal cake made with milk, syrup, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Indian Bannocks

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

  1. Add corn meal to scalded milk, then stir in syrup and salt.

  2. Cool the mixture and add lightly beaten egg yolks.

  3. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

  4. Pour into a well-greased shallow pudding dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes.

  2. Serve in the pudding dish.

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. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Milk + maple syruptop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together798 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Maple syrup + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Corn + maple syruptop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn meal
Forms the thick body of the batter and sets into a soft, tender cake when baked.
Scalded milk
Hydrates the corn meal and provides moisture so the cakes stay soft inside.
Eggs
Bind the batter and, with whipped whites, give the cakes lift and a light, custardy texture.
Maple syrup or sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown lightly in the oven.

The step that matters

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whites, which is what makes the cakes rise and stay light. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves a dense result.

“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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