Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Old-fashioned Johnny Cake
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk and lard until well blended.
Make and bake
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes, or 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.
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 + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main structure and gives the cake its coarse, grainy texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the cake holds together while it bakes.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that tenderises the crumb and reacts with the baking soda.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and moisture in the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce carbon dioxide, which makes the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown as it bakes.
The step that matters
Stir the batter until just combined. Once the wet and dry ingredients meet, the baking soda starts reacting with the buttermilk and gluten begins to form. Overmixing develops too much gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense, so stop as soon as no dry streaks remain.
“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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