Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Indian Corn Cakes
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
Mix the cornmeal, egg, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl.
Add golden syrup, molasses, or treacle to taste.
Stir in the baking powder quickly.
Bake
Pour the mixture into well-buttered tins.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + syruptop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,995 recipes
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 cake and gives it its coarse, grainy structure.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture together and adds structure as it sets.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cakes brown in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and turn light.
The step that matters
Stir in the baking powder quickly. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it gets wet and reacts. Delaying the stir or the bake lets that gas escape, so the cakes rise less.
“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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