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 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a bowl, stir together cornmeal and boiling milk.
Add salt and butter, mixing until combined.
Beat egg yolks with granulated sugar and stir into the mixture.
Fold and bake
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with additional sugar until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold in baking powder and then the beaten egg whites.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cornbread a light, airy lift.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and tenderness, and help bind the batter as it sets.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the bread, giving it its corn flavor and crumbly structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cornbread rise in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a softer crumb and rich flavor.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff egg whites hold air that gives the cornbread its lift. Stirring vigorously or over-mixing deflates them, leaving a dense result. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
“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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