Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Meal Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the corn meal and flour.
Add enough water to create a soft batter.
Mix in the eggs, salt, molasses, baking powder, and melted butter. Stir until well combined and smooth.
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.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Corn meal
- Forms the main body of the cakes and gives them their grainy texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the cakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the cakes rise and turn light.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, depth of flavor, and extra browning.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor and helps the cakes brown.
The step that matters
Cook on a hot griddle until golden brown on both sides. If the griddle is not hot enough, the cakes spread and absorb fat without browning, and they may stay pale and gummy inside. Good heat sets the outside quickly so the cakes hold their shape and develop color.
“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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