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 ↓
Hominy 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix and bake
In a bowl, combine cold boiled hominy, egg, butter, salt, and enough milk to achieve a pudding batter consistency.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake for breakfast until set and lightly golden.
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).
-
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
- Cold boiled hominy
- Forms the bulk of the bread, giving it a starchy, sturdy body once baked.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and helps it set into a firm, sliceable texture as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the mixture into a pourable pudding batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavour and a tender crumb.
The step that matters
Bake until set and lightly golden. Underbaking leaves the egg proteins liquid, so the bread stays wet and loose in the centre. Overbaking dries the starch and can make it crumbly. Look for a firm centre and light browning.
“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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