Why it works: Milk and egg 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 ↓
Hoe Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, baking soda, sour milk, and egg.
Stir quickly until well mixed.
Cook
Heat lard or drippings in a large skillet over medium heat.
Pour batter into the skillet and cook like pancakes until golden brown on both sides.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the cakes and gives them their grainy, sturdy texture.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as the cakes set.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk's acidity to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Sour milk
- Supplies moisture and acid that activates the baking soda.
- Lard or drippings
- Fat that conducts heat to the skillet and browns the cakes' surface.
The step that matters
Stir quickly until well mixed. Once the baking soda meets the sour milk it starts releasing gas, so the batter should go into the hot fat promptly to keep its lift. Overmixing can also toughen cornmeal batters.
“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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