Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Scald and beat the cornmeal well.
Add the lard, sour milk with dissolved baking soda, and the egg.
Mix in enough cornmeal to achieve a moderately thick batter.
Bake
Bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (175°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 + 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the batter and provides the structure and corn flavor of the bread.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release carbon dioxide, helping the bread rise.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets during baking.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and keeps it moist.
The step that matters
Scald and beat the cornmeal well. Hot liquid partly cooks the cornmeal's starch, so it absorbs moisture and softens. Thorough beating spreads it evenly, which helps avoid a dry or grainy texture in the finished cornbread.
“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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