Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Paul Stillman's Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Mix the batter
Mix cornmeal and wheat flour in a bowl.
Dissolve baking soda in hot water and wet the meal thoroughly.
Add eggs for improvement and mix well.
Add the acid
In a separate container, mix muriatic acid with a little water.
Combine the muriatic acid mixture with the cornmeal mixture and stir thoroughly.
Bake
Spread the batter in a tin pie pan and bake immediately in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Wheat + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Forms the main body and coarse, crumbly texture of the cornbread.
- Wheat flour
- Gluten gives the batter structure so the bread holds together when baked.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with an acid to release carbon dioxide, which lifts and lightens the batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture to the baked crumb.
The step that matters
Handling the muriatic acid. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid, a corrosive industrial chemical, not a food ingredient. It can burn skin and eyes and its fumes irritate the lungs. It also reacts vigorously with baking soda. Do not make this recipe as written.
“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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