Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
A Nice Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, sour cream, sour milk, salt, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased pan.
Bake and serve
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
Serve hot with butter, honey, or maple syrup.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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 coarse, grainy structure and corn flavour that define the cake.
- Flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the cake holds its shape.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and richness, and its acidity tenderizes the crumb.
- Sour milk
- Adds liquid and acidity that reacts with the leaveners to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream and sour milk to produce gas for rising and browning.
- Baking powder
- Supplies additional lift so the batter rises in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until golden brown. Baking soda and baking powder release gas as the batter heats, so the cake must go into a fully preheated oven. Underbaking leaves a gummy, sunken centre, while overbaking dries it out. Golden brown colour signals browning from sugar and starch.
“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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