Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
White Cokn 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 batter
Scald the cornmeal with 2 cups of boiling water.
Mix in the butter and beaten egg.
Add milk until the batter is thin enough to flow over the pan.
Bake
Ensure the batter is 1 inch thick in the pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main structure of the bread as its starch sets during baking.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps give the cornbread a firm, cohesive crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a more tender texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and sets the batter's consistency so it spreads evenly in the pan.
The step that matters
Adding the milk. Milk must be added until the batter is thin enough to flow. A batter that is too thick bakes dense and dry, while one that is too thin spreads out and bakes flat and gummy in the centre.
“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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