Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
To Make Cream Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the egg yolks with the cream and sugar.
Rub a pan with lard and heat it.
Cook and serve
Pour the mixture into the pan, making the pancakes as thin as possible.
Grate sugar over the pancakes and serve hot.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the batter while setting in the pan.
- Cream
- Provides fat and moisture, giving the pancakes a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, when grated over the hot pancakes, a light sugary finish.
The step that matters
Making the pancakes as thin as possible. A thin layer of batter sets quickly and evenly in a hot, greased pan. A thick pour cooks slowly on the outside, so it may stay raw in the middle or scorch before it sets 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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