Name: Breakfast Johnny Cake
Ingredients: 6 to 8 tablespoons fine yellow cornmeal; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 teaspoon salt; Water (or milk) to wet thoroughly; 1 egg; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; 1 tablespoon melted butter

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Breakfast Johnny Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

Mix the cornmeal, flour, cornstarch, salt, and enough water (or milk) to wet thoroughly in a bowl. Cover and let sit overnight.
In the morning, add the egg, baking soda, brown sugar, and melted butter to the mixture. Beat well.

Bake

Bake immediately in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 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

Fine yellow cornmeal: Provides the main body and corn flavour of the cake.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Baking soda: Reacts with the batter's acidity to lift it and help it rise.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
Melted butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Bake immediately after adding the baking soda. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it is mixed into a batter. Baking right away keeps the gas bubbles that lift the cake from escaping, so it rises well and stays light.

“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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Breakfast Johnny Cake