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 Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Melt the butter in a small pan.
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Add the eggs and melted butter to the dry ingredients.
Gradually mix in sweet milk until the batter is as thick as griddle cakes.
Cook
Cook on a hot griddle until golden brown on both sides.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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).
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
- Forms the bulk of the cakes and gives them their grainy, tender texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds structure so the cakes hold together when cooked.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the cakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda, helping the cakes rise.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
The step that matters
Cooking on a hot griddle. If the griddle is not hot enough, the cakes absorb fat and turn pale and soggy, while a properly hot surface sets the outside quickly and drives browning. Cooking too hot can scorch the outside before the centre sets.
“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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