Why it works: Wheat and corn 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 ↓
Corn Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg and sugar together until well combined.
Melt the butter and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the wheat flour, corn meal, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add the milk, mixing until smooth.
Cook the cakes
Heat a skillet over medium heat and pour in batter to form cakes.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.
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 + corntop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together465 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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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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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the cakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown in the pan.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavour and a tender crumb.
- Wheat flour
- Provides gluten for structure, holding the cakes together.
- Corn meal
- Gives the cakes their corn flavour and a slightly coarse texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the cakes rise and become light.
The step that matters
Cook until golden brown on both sides. Cooking over medium heat lets the surface brown through the Maillard reaction while the centre sets. Heat that is too high browns the outside before the batter cooks through, leaving the middle raw.
“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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