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 ↓
Corn-bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease your baking pans.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix together the sour milk, beaten eggs, and sugar.
Stir in the flour and cornmeal, then add the melted lard.
Dissolve the baking soda in a few drops of boiling water and add it to the mixture.
Beat the batter hard for several minutes.
Bake
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 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
- Sour milk
- Provides acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the bread rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release gas, lifting the batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cornbread sets.
- Flour
- Provides gluten and starch that give the cornbread its structure.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body and corn flavour of the cornbread.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and a moist crumb.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water first. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it mixes evenly and reacts with the sour milk's acid throughout the batter. Uneven distribution leaves dense patches or soda-tasting spots.
“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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