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Potato Pancakes

A batter of grated potatoes, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and milk cooked into golden pancakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Peel and grate the potatoes.

  2. Drain the grated potatoes.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs until light and fluffy.

  2. Add flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper to the eggs.

  3. Mix in the drained potatoes.

  4. Add enough milk to achieve the right consistency.

Cook

  1. Heat grease on the griddle.

  2. Spread the batter thin.

  3. Cook 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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk 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

Potatoes
Provide the starch and bulk that crisp and brown in the hot grease.
Eggs
Bind the grated potatoes together and add richness to the batter.
Flour
Absorbs excess moisture from the potatoes so the batter holds its shape.
Baking powder
Releases gas that gives the latkes a slightly lighter texture.
Milk
Adjusts the batter's thickness and adds moisture so it spreads evenly.

The step that matters

Drain the grated potatoes. Grated potatoes release a lot of water. If it is not drained off, the latkes steam instead of frying, so they turn soggy rather than crisp and golden brown.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, pepper, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, pepper, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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