Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Breakfast Corn 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Mix cornmeal, flour, buttermilk, and water in a bowl.
Let the mixture sit overnight.
In the morning, add baking soda, sugar or molasses, melted butter, and salt to the mixture. Stir until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
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 + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Forms the main body and gives the cornbread its characteristic grainy texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-forming structure so the cornbread holds together better than cornmeal alone.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that works with the baking soda to help the bread rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce carbon dioxide, lifting the batter.
- Sugar or molasses
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda and stirring until well combined. Baking soda needs to be evenly distributed through the batter, or pockets will be bitter or the rise will be uneven. Its reaction with the acidic buttermilk starts once mixed, so the batter should go into the pan promptly.
“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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