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Bread

Tennessee Egg Bread

A quick, savory bread made with buttermilk, cornmeal, eggs, and lard, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Buttermilk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,986 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Tennessee Egg Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk and baking soda.

  2. Add the cornmeal, salt, lard, and egg. Stir until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.

  2. Bake until golden brown and cooked through.

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. Buttermilk + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,986 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Buttermilk
Provides liquid and acidity that reacts with baking soda to lift the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas, helping the bread rise.
Cornmeal
Forms the main structure of the bread and gives it its characteristic grainy texture.
Lard
Adds fat for tenderness and moisture and helps the crust brown.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets during baking.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown and cooked through. Cornmeal breads can look browned on top while the center remains wet and gummy. Baking until fully set and browned ensures the starch and egg have cooked through, giving a firm, sliceable crumb.

“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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