Why it works: Milk and butter 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 Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, mix together cornmeal, flour, sugar, and salt.
Beat the eggs until light and add them to the mixture.
Stir in sour milk and sweet milk with dissolved baking soda until well combined.
Bake
Heat a frying pan until very hot and add butter.
Pour the batter into the pan, then add another cup of sweet milk without stirring.
Bake in the hot oven 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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Milk + buttertop 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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Provides the main body and the characteristic grainy texture of the cornbread.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the bread set as it bakes.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the bread rises and turns tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, lifting the batter as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavor and helps the edges crisp and brown in the hot pan.
The step that matters
Pouring the batter into the very hot pan without stirring. Hot butter sears the batter's edges, creating a crisp crust, while stirring would knock out the air and gas bubbles that give the bread lift and an even crumb.
“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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