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Raisin Corn Bread

A moist cornbread flavored with raisins, baked with milk, egg, butter, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Raisin Corn Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 375°F (190°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Mix together the milk, egg, butter, sugar, and salt.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of hot water and add it to the mixture.

  3. Sift together the flour and cream of tartar, then add to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the cornmeal and raisins.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 30 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar and moisture to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Cream of tartar
Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to help the bread rise.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Bread flour
Provides gluten that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Cornmeal
Adds coarse texture and corn flavor, and sets the crumb as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes richness.

The step that matters

Dissolving and adding the baking soda and combining the leavening. Baking soda needs an acid, here the cream of tartar, to release gas. Mixing the batter gently and baking promptly keeps that gas in the batter so the cornbread rises well.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, cream, butter, bread, flour, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, cream, butter, bread, flour, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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