Name: Washington City Batter Cakes
Ingredients: 2 cups cornmeal; 1 cup flour; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt; sweet milk (as needed)

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Washington City Batter Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, and salt.
Mix in sweet milk until the batter reaches a cake-like consistency.
Heat a skillet and fry the batter without grease 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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: Forms the main body of the cake and gives it a grainy, sturdy texture.
Flour: Adds gluten-based structure so the batter holds together when fried.
Baking powder: Releases gas that lightens the batter and helps it rise as it cooks.
Butter: Adds richness and a tender crumb to the batter.
Sweet milk: Hydrates the dry ingredients into a batter with a cake-like consistency.

The step that matters

Frying the batter without grease. Without fat, the surface can stick or scorch before it browns. Keeping the skillet at a steady medium heat lets the outside set and turn golden while the inside cooks through.

“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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Washington City Batter Cakes