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 ↓
Cornmeal Gems
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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the thoroughly beaten eggs.
Sift in the flour with the baking powder.
Stir in part of the milk.
Sift in the Indian meal and salt, then add the remainder of the milk, stirring well.
Bake
Preheat a gem pan on the stove and butter it well.
Fill the pan nearly full and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 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).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Indian meal
- Gives the cake its coarse, grainy texture and characteristic corn flavor.
- Flour
- Provides structure so the batter sets into a cake rather than staying loose.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps the cake brown.
- Milk
- Hydrates the dry ingredients and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
The step that matters
Fill the pan nearly full and bake promptly after mixing. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it meets liquid, so the batter should go into a hot, well-buttered pan and into the oven without delay. Waiting lets gas escape and weakens the rise.
“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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