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 Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Boil the milk and gradually pour it over the cornmeal.
Add the butter and salt, and mix well.
Rest and mix in the egg
Set the mixture in a cool place overnight.
In the morning, beat the mixture thoroughly.
Beat the egg well and add it to the mixture.
Bake
Pour the mixture into small deep dishes and bake for 30 minutes.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Hydrates the cornmeal, and its heat starts the starch swelling so the mixture thickens.
- Cornmeal
- Provides the bulk and starch that set into the body of the cake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and helps it set firm when baked.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling milk gradually over the cornmeal. Adding the hot liquid slowly and stirring lets each cornmeal particle hydrate evenly, so the batter forms without dry clumps. Hot liquid also starts the starch swelling, which gives the batter its thick, cohesive body.
“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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