Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The Bannock
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.
Make the porridge
Scald the milk in a double boiler.
Gradually stir in the cornmeal to avoid lumps.
Boil while stirring until thickened.
Cool to blood warmth.
Bake
Add the beaten eggs, sugar, and salt.
Pour into a buttered pudding dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes until risen and 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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornmeal thickens and the eggs enrich.
- Cornmeal
- Thickens the milk as it cooks and gives the pudding its body.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to hold the pudding together and help it rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Cool to blood warmth before adding the eggs. If the cornmeal mixture is still very hot, it can scramble the beaten eggs and leave lumps. Cooling it first lets the eggs blend smoothly and set evenly in the oven.
“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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