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 ↓
Spider Corn-cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Mix the batter
Dissolve the baking soda in 1 cup of sweet milk.
Beat the eggs until light.
Combine the dissolved soda milk and sour milk with the dry ingredients, then add the eggs.
Pan and bake
Heat a large frying pan and grease it well with butter.
Pour the mixture into the pan and add the remaining cup of sweet milk without stirring.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 25 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.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Provides the main body and structure of the cake.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
- Butter
- Greases the pan and adds fat for flavor and browning on the base.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown.
The step that matters
Heat and grease the pan before pouring. A hot, well-greased pan starts setting the batter on contact and browns the base evenly, while also preventing sticking. A cold or lightly greased pan lets the batter spread and stick, leaving an uneven, pale bottom.
“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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