Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, Graham flour, sweet milk, buttermilk, molasses, and baking soda, then mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a steamer.
Steam
Steam for 3 hours.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Buttermilk + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together526 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 gives the bread its grainy structure.
- Graham flour
- Adds a coarser, nutty texture and helps give the bread body.
- Buttermilk or sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the bread rises and turns tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a darker color to the finished bread.
- Sweet milk
- Adds liquid that hydrates the cornmeal and flour into a pourable batter.
The step that matters
Steam for 3 hours. Steaming cooks the batter gently and evenly with moist heat, which keeps the bread from drying out. Steady steam over the full three hours is needed for the center to set fully.
“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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