Why it works: Butter and milk 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 Huffins
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Sift together the flour, cornmeal, and baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the beaten eggs to the butter mixture.
Dilute with milk.
Add salt and beat the mixture well.
Bake
Pour into well-buttered gem pans.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the muffins together as they bake.
- Cornmeal
- Adds the coarse, grainy texture and corn flavor that defines the muffins.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the muffins rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, tenderizing the crumb and contributing flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping bind the batter and set during baking.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and cornmeal and thins the batter to a pourable consistency.
The step that matters
Beat the mixture well. Thorough beating combines the ingredients evenly and builds some gluten and air, which affects rise and crumb. Overbeating after the flour is mixed can make muffins tough, so mix until just combined and evenly blended.
“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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