Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Virginia Corn Bread
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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Rub in the cold lard until well combined.
Mix and bake
Add the beaten eggs and milk, mixing until you have a moderately stiff batter.
Pour the batter into well-greased shallow baking pans or pie tins.
Bake for 30 to 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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 body and the characteristic grainy, crumbly texture of the cornbread.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the bread sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the batter so the cornbread rises and stays light.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and helps the cornbread brown.
- Milk
- Hydrates the dry ingredients and gives the batter its moisture and softness.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten structure that helps the cornbread hold its shape.
The step that matters
Rub in the cold lard until well combined. Working cold fat into the dry ingredients coats the flour and meal particles and keeps the fat in small pieces, which gives a tender, even crumb rather than a greasy or dense one.
“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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