Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine sour milk or sour cream with baking soda.
Stir in the beaten eggs and salt.
Add cornmeal and flour, and mix thoroughly.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes 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.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Sour milk or sour cream
- Its acidity reacts with baking soda to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour dairy to leaven the cornbread and help it rise.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Cornmeal
- Provides the coarse, grainy texture and corn flavor that defines cornbread.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-forming structure so the crumb holds together rather than crumbling.
The step that matters
Combine the sour dairy with baking soda. The soda must meet acid right away to release carbon dioxide, so the batter should be baked promptly before the gas escapes and the rise weakens.
“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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