Name: Indian Corn Biscuit
Ingredients: 1 quart corn meal; 1 pint wheat flour; 3 pints milk; 1 teaspoon salt; 4 eggs; 1 teaspoon baking soda; Butter for greasing pans

Why it works: Corn and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Indian Corn Biscuit

Oven, in the book's wordsThe hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “the hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Sift together corn meal and wheat flour.
Stir in milk and salt.
Beat the egg yolks and stir them into the batter.
Beat the egg whites separately and fold them into the batter.
Add baking soda last and mix gently.

Bake and serve

Grease small pans and fill them nearly full with the batter.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until puffed and golden.
Turn out of the pans immediately and serve hot.

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.

Corn + wheattop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together465 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn meal: Provides the main body and the characteristic grainy, crumbly texture.
Wheat flour: Adds gluten structure that helps the bread hold its shape.
Eggs: Add richness and structure, and whipped whites lighten the batter.
Milk: Hydrates the dry ingredients and adds moisture and tenderness.
Baking soda: Reacts to lift the batter so the cornbread rises and becomes lighter.