Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Corn Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg and mix in the sugar and salt.
Add the milk, cornmeal, and flour, and stir until combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda and cream of tartar.
Combine the dry ingredients with the wet mixture and stir until smooth.
Cook the cakes
Heat a skillet over medium heat and pour in batter to form cakes.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook until golden.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 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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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk and flour 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as the cakes set.
- Cornmeal
- Provides the grainy body and corn flavor that define the cakes.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the cakes hold their shape when flipped.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that lifts the cakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to help the cakes rise.
- Milk
- Hydrates the dry ingredients and gives the batter its liquid base.
The step that matters
Cook until bubbles form, then flip. Bubbles forming on the surface show the leavening has set the cake's structure enough to flip. Flipping too early tears the cake, while waiting too long can dry it out and darken it before the inside is cooked.
“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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