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Cousin Betty's Soft Corn Bread

A soft corn bread made with cornmeal, sweet milk, eggs, butter, and optional hominy or bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cousin Betty's Soft Corn Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

  1. Scald the cornmeal in a pot.

  2. Add the butter first, then add the milk.

  3. Mix in cold hominy or bread if desired.

  4. Beat the eggs separately, then fold the eggs into the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Grease a baking pan and place the pan on the stove to heat.

  2. Pour the mixture into the hot baking pan.

  3. Stir constantly for 1 minute to prevent settling.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.

  5. Serve immediately.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

White cornmeal
Forms the main body of the bread and gives its corn flavor and crumb.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during baking to give structure and a tender crumb.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and softness, hydrating the cornmeal into a pourable batter.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Pour into the hot baking pan. Pouring the batter into a preheated greased pan starts the crust setting immediately, helping it release cleanly and rise evenly instead of sticking or sinking.

“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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