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 ↓
Corn Egg Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the eggs separately.
Stir the baking soda into the buttermilk.
Make and bake
Mix all ingredients together until well combined, adding salt to taste.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden 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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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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Buttermilk + eggtop 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
- Buttermilk
- Provides acidity that reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter and adds tenderness.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that helps the cornbread rise.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the body of the bread, giving it its grainy texture and structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness, flavour and a tender crumb.
The step that matters
Stir the baking soda into the buttermilk. Baking soda needs an acid to react with, and the buttermilk supplies it. Gas forms quickly once they meet, so the batter should go into the pan and the oven without long delay to keep the rise.
“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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