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 ↓
Corn Gems
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and grease the gem pans.
Make the batter
Combine the cornmeal and butter in a mixing bowl.
Pour the boiling milk over the mixture and stir well.
Add the cold milk, the beaten eggs and the salt.
Add the flour mixed with baking powder and mix thoroughly until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into the prepared gem pans.
Bake for 30 minutes.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 of the cakes and gives them their corn flavour and crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cakes set in the oven.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds additional structure so the cakes hold their shape.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the cornmeal and flour into a batter.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling milk over the cornmeal and butter. Boiling milk partly cooks and swells the cornmeal starch before the other ingredients are added, which softens the crumb. Stirring it smooth first prevents lumps and uneven texture in the finished cakes.
“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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