Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Good Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and add salt.
Mix in the sour cream or buttermilk and the baking soda dissolved in hot water.
Stir in the melted lard.
Add the wheat flour and baking powder, mixing well.
Gradually add yellow cornmeal until you achieve a thin batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a baking sheet and bake until 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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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + wheattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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 as they set in the oven.
- Sour cream or buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour cream or buttermilk to produce gas that makes the cornbread rise.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and helps the surface brown.
- Wheat flour
- Provides gluten and starch that give the cornbread body and hold its shape.
- Baking powder
- Provides additional lift so the batter rises during baking.
The step that matters
Pour the batter into a baking sheet and bake until brown.. The batter is thin and bakes quickly, so it can dry out or overbrown if left too long. Baking until the top is browned and the centre is set keeps it moist and tender.
“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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