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 ↓
New England Corn Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Scald the milk and gradually pour it over the cornmeal.
When cool, add the melted butter, salt, and yeast.
Do this at night; in the morning, beat the mixture thoroughly.
Bake
Add the well-beaten eggs and baking soda dissolved in water.
Pour the mixture into buttered deep baking dishes.
Let it stand for 15 minutes to rise again.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main structure and body of the bread.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds structure and helps the crumb hold its shape.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the batter rise and turn lighter.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat and moisture, giving a softer, richer crumb.
- Milk
- Hydrates the cornmeal and adds moisture and richness.
The step that matters
Let the scalded milk cool before adding the yeast. Yeast is a living organism, and very hot liquid can kill it. Waiting until the mixture is cool lets the yeast stay active so it can produce the gas that makes the batter 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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