Skip to main content
Bread

Virginia Batter Bread

A cornmeal bread with milk, eggs, butter, and rice baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Virginia Batter Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift the cornmeal, salt, and baking powder together twice.

  2. Melt the butter and mix it with the cold boiled rice.

  3. Beat the eggs until frothy, then mix with the milk and pour over the buttered rice, beating until smooth.

  4. Add the prepared cornmeal and beat vigorously for 3 to 4 minutes.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pan or pudding dish.

  2. Cover and let it rise well, then uncover and bake until browned.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes.

  4. Serve in the baking dish and eat before it falls.

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Forms the bulk of the batter and gives the bread its structure and coarse texture.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set into a light, custardy crumb as it bakes.
Milk
Hydrates the cornmeal and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping it rise during baking.
Cold boiled rice
Adds moisture and a tender, soft texture to the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for flavor and a tender crumb, and helps the top brown.

The step that matters

Beat the batter well and let it rise before baking. Vigorous beating builds air and develops the batter's structure, while a good rise before baking gives the bread its lightness. Baking before the batter has risen well, or letting it sit too long, leads to a dense result or a loss of lift.

“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.

You might also like

CornbreadCornbread345 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding336 recipesMilk Bread RollsMilk Bread Rolls242 recipesPotato BreadPotato Bread124 recipes