Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the eggs until very light.
Add the cornmeal and beat until light.
Mix in the melted butter and the milk or water.
If using buttermilk, dissolve the baking soda in 2 tablespoons of boiling water before adding.
Do not use baking soda with sweet milk.
Form a thick batter that can be spread into cakes about ½ inch thick and 5 inches in diameter.
Bake
Place the cakes in buttered tins and bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for about 30 minutes.
Brush the cakes with melted butter every 5-6 minutes while baking.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 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
- Indian meal (cornmeal)
- Forms the bulk of the cake and gives it its grainy, sturdy structure.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Sweet milk or buttermilk or hot water
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the cornmeal and makes the batter spreadable.
- Melted butter or lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor and helps the cakes brown on the outside.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in buttermilk to produce gas that lightens the cakes.
The step that matters
Use baking soda only with buttermilk. Baking soda needs an acid, such as buttermilk, to release carbon dioxide and lift the batter. With sweet milk it has no acid to react with, which can leave a soapy taste and poor 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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