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Breakfast

Jolly Boys

A fried cornmeal and flour batter cooked in lard, served for breakfast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Jolly Boys

Why it works: Cream and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Jolly Boys

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Scald and cool the cornmeal.

  2. Mix in the flour, eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar, milk, and salt until thick like pancake batter.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat lard in a pan.

  2. Fry the batter in the hot lard until golden brown.

  3. Serve for breakfast.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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 bulk of the pancake and gives it its body and corn flavor.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set into a firm structure when cooked.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas and lift the pancakes; also aids browning.
Cream of tartar
Provides acid that activates the baking soda so the batter rises.
Lard
Conducts heat for frying and gives the pancakes crisp, golden browned edges.

The step that matters

Heat the lard before frying. Hot fat sets the outside of the batter quickly, so the pancakes brown well and absorb less grease. Cold lard lets the batter soak up oil and cook pale and heavy.

“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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