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 quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Mix the Indian meal and flour together.
Add the salt to the mixture.
Beat the eggs until light without separating them.
Add the sugar to the eggs.
Beat the mixture until light.
Mix in the milk and melted butter with the egg and sugar mixture.
Gradually add the mixed meal and flour.
Beat continuously until smooth.
Stir in the baking powder.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased shallow pan.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
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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Milk + flourtop 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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Egg + flourtop 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they are beaten light.
- Indian meal
- Provides the cornmeal base and the characteristic grainy texture of the bread.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the bread holds its shape after baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cornbread rises in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the meal and flour into a pourable batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Beat the eggs until light without separating them. Beaten eggs trap air that helps the batter rise. Over-beating after the flour goes in can toughen the bread, so beat only until the batter is smooth.
“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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