Name: Makai or Indian Corn Cakes
Ingredients: 2 cups ground makai (cornmeal); 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon white sugar; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 tablespoon butter, slightly melted; 4 eggs, separated; 1 cup milk; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

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 ↓

Makai or Indian Corn Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA fairly quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a fairly quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, and baking powder together.
Add the beaten egg yolks and whites separately.
Stir in the melted butter and milk, then add the salt.

Shape and bake

Roll out the dough and cut it into round cakes.
Place on a buttered baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) until brown.

Serve

Serve hot, cut in half, and butter.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Cornmeal: Provides the main structure and the grainy, corn-flavored body of the cakes.
All-purpose flour: Adds gluten-based structure that helps the cakes hold their shape.
Eggs: Bind the dough and add richness, with whipped whites helping to lighten the texture.
Baking powder: Releases gas as it reacts with moisture and heat, helping the cakes rise.
Butter: Adds fat for flavor and a tender crumb, and helps the browning of the surface.
Milk: Hydrates the dry ingredients so the batter forms a workable dough.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that gives lift. Stirring them in too hard deflates that foam, leaving the cakes denser. Fold them in gently so the air stays in the batter while it bakes.

“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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Makai or Indian Corn Cakes