Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
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. 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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sugar and melted lard.
Make and bake the batter
Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.
Add enough water to achieve a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Provides the coarse, gritty texture that gives johnny cake its characteristic crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds structure so the batter holds together while baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and moisture in the finished cake.
The step that matters
Adding water to a smooth batter. Water must be added gradually until the batter is smooth. Too little leaves dry lumps of flour and cornmeal, while too much thins the batter so it bakes flat and dense.
“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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