Name: Corn and Graham Johnny Cake
Ingredients: 3 cups cornmeal; 3 tablespoons melted butter; 2 cups graham flour; 2 heaping teaspoons baking soda; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 3 eggs; 1 quart sour milk (or 1 cup molasses or sour cream if available)

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 and Graham Johnny Cake

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, melted butter, graham flour, baking soda, all-purpose flour, and salt.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the sour milk (or molasses or sour cream).
Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for about 30–40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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 coarse, crumbly texture of the cake.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Sour milk: Adds acidity for baking soda to react with, and moisture for a tender crumb.
Melted butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
All-purpose flour: Adds gluten-forming structure to hold the cake together.

The step that matters

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Once liquid meets flour, gluten begins to form; overmixing makes the cake tough and dense. Stopping as soon as no dry streaks remain keeps the crumb tender.

“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.

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Spice Cake344 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The 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.

Corn and Graham Johnny Cake