Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Waffles Without Waffle Irons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare an iron saucepan with a smooth, even bottom.
Heat and grease the saucepan well.
Cook the waffles
Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom thinly.
Keep the saucepan in a hot place on the stove, but not too hot, and cover with a tin cover.
When the waffle is cooked enough to turn, do so quickly to avoid breaking.
Once baked on both sides, remove to a plate and generously butter.
Keep the plate in the oven to keep warm while you bake additional waffles.
Serve
Serve hot, cutting into pie-shaped pieces, and layer them.
Sift powdered sugar over each layer as you butter them.
Serve with maple sugar and cream for added flavor.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Soft flour
- Forms the structure of the batter so the thin waffle holds together when turned.
- Butter
- Greases the pan and adds richness and flavor to each layer.
- Batter
- Cooks into the thin waffle layers that form the base of the dish.
The step that matters
Turning the waffle. A thin waffle is fragile until its underside sets. Turning it too early tears it, so wait until it is cooked enough to lift cleanly, then turn it quickly.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.