Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Judson's Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the well-beaten yolks of the eggs with the buttermilk.
Stir in the cornmeal and melted butter until well mixed.
Alternately fold in the beaten egg whites and enough cornmeal to create a smooth batter.
Add the baking soda and mix quickly.
Bake
Pour the batter into buttered tins and bake until golden.
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Buttermilk + buttertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,674 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + buttermilktop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,986 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites are beaten and folded in to lighten the batter, while yolks add richness and binding.
- Buttermilk
- Provides acidity and moisture, and reacts with the baking soda to help the cornbread rise.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the body of the bread and gives it its characteristic grainy texture.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and helps the batter stay moist.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release gas, helping the cornbread rise.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda and mixing quickly. Baking soda reacts with the acid in buttermilk right away, releasing carbon dioxide bubbles. Delaying the mix or overworking the batter lets those bubbles escape, leaving the cornbread flatter and denser.
“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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