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Baking

Corn Cakes

A batter of eggs, salt, molasses, sour buttermilk, baking soda, hot water, wheat flour, baking powder, and cornmeal is fried on a griddle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Buttermilk and flour 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 ↓

Corn Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in salt and molasses.

  2. Combine sour buttermilk with baking soda dissolved in hot water.

  3. In another bowl, mix wheat flour with baking powder and cornmeal.

  4. Combine all mixtures to form a thin batter.

Cook

  1. Heat a griddle and fry the batter until golden brown.

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. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together526 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Egg and flour 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure to the cakes as they set.
Sour buttermilk
Adds moisture and tang, and reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas, helping the cakes rise.
Wheat flour
Provides gluten and structure so the cakes hold their shape.
Baking powder
Gives additional lift as the batter heats on the griddle.
Yellow cornmeal
Gives the cakes their corn flavor and a slightly coarse, tender texture.

The step that matters

Fry the batter until golden brown. The batter must be cooked on a properly heated griddle. Too cool and the cakes spread and stay pale and gummy; too hot and the outside browns before the centre sets. Lift and rise depend on the leavening reacting while the batter is hot.

“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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