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 ↓
Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the cornmeal base
Heat 1 quart of milk in a double boiler until boiling.
Stir in 4 large kitchen spoonfuls of cornmeal and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir occasionally as it cools.
Bake and serve
Once cool, add 3 beaten eggs, 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 tablespoon of butter, and a pinch of salt.
Pour the mixture into a greased dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35 minutes.
Serve immediately with a napkin around the dish.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set firm as it bakes.
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk into a porridge-like base that gives the bread its body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that cooks the cornmeal and moistens the finished bread.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the baked mixture holds together when cut.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
The step that matters
Cooling before adding the eggs. Eggs added to very hot cornmeal mixture can scramble or cook unevenly, so the mixture should cool before the eggs go in, keeping the batter smooth and setting evenly in the oven.
“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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