Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Sift the cornmeal and scald it with boiling water, then allow it to cool.
Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda, then add to the cornmeal.
Add one slightly beaten egg and the sour milk, followed by the melted lard.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased pan or gem pans.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, or until brown.
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.
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 of the bread, and scalding it softens its starch for a moist crumb.
- Flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the cornbread holds together when cut.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the bread rise and gives a tender texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes to browning.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
The step that matters
Scalding the cornmeal. Boiling water swells and partly gelatinizes the cornmeal starch, which keeps the crumb moist. Letting it cool before mixing keeps the later ingredients from being cooked or thinned unevenly.
“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.
More cornbread recipes
You might also like
Bread Pudding336 recipes
Milk Bread Rolls242 recipes
Potato Bread124 recipes
Nut Bread109 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.