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Griddle Cakes and the Like

A cornmeal batter griddle-cooked with sour milk, wheat flour, and optional sweetener.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Griddle Cakes and the Like

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cornmeal

  1. Scald the cornmeal with the boiling water and dissolved salt, then cover and let cool.

Make the batter

  1. Add sweetener (if using), melted shortening, beaten egg, and part of the sour milk.

  2. Sift together the flour and baking soda, then blend with the cornmeal mixture and remaining sour milk until you have a pourable batter.

  3. Beat thoroughly.

Cook

  1. Bake on a hot griddle until browned on both sides.

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. Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 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. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour 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

Cornmeal
Forms the bulk of the batter and gives the cakes their coarse, tender body.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the cakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that helps the cakes rise and lighten.
Sour milk
Supplies liquid and acidity that activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Wheat flour
Adds gluten-forming protein that gives the cakes more structure and holds them together.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the cakes and helps them brown on the griddle.

The step that matters

Cooking on a hot griddle. The griddle must be hot enough to set the batter quickly and brown both sides. If it is too cool, the cakes spread, absorb grease, and cook through unevenly before browning.

“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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