Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Fried Corn Mush for Breakfast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mush
In a pot, bring 3 pints of water to a boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
In a bowl, mix 1 pint of cold milk with 1 pint of cornmeal.
Gradually pour the cornmeal mixture into the boiling water, stirring continuously.
Let it boil for 30 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning.
Once cooked, pour the mush into a dish and let it cool completely.
Coat and fry
Slice the cooled mush, dip each slice in beaten eggs, then coat with bread or cracker crumbs.
Fry the coated slices in boiling lard until golden 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.
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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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the thick mush that sets when cooled, giving the slices their body.
- Eggs
- Bind the coating so the crumbs stick to the slices.
- Bread or cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned outer crust when fried.
- Milk
- Adds richness and softness to the mush.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornmeal into the boiling water. Cornmeal added to hot water can clump and scorch if poured in too fast or not stirred constantly. Gradual pouring with continuous stirring keeps the mush smooth and prevents burning on the bottom of the pot.
“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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