Name: Corn Meal Batter Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup cornmeal; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon sugar; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 egg; buttermilk (enough to make a batter); a pinch of salt; 1 tablespoon lard (or butter); milk (as needed)

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 ↓

Corn Meal Batter Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Add the egg and enough buttermilk to create a batter.

Cook the cakes

Heat a well-greased griddle over medium-high heat.
Pour batter onto the griddle to form cakes.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.

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 + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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 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 body and the grainy, sturdy texture of the cakes.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps the cakes hold their shape while cooking.
Buttermilk: Moistens the batter and adds mild acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that lightens the cakes.
All-purpose flour: Adds structure and helps the cakes hold together with the cornmeal.

The step that matters

Cook until golden brown on both sides. The griddle must be hot and well greased so the surface browns evenly. Too little heat leaves the cakes pale and doughy, while too much browns the outside before the centre sets.

“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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Corn Meal Batter Cakes