Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Common Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pan
Keep the frying pan clean and rub it with butter or lard.
Heat the pan and wipe it out with a cloth.
Make and cook the pancakes
In a bowl, mix eggs, milk, and flour to make a light batter.
When the fat is hot, pour in a ladleful of batter.
Tilt the pan to spread the batter evenly and fry until golden brown.
Flip the pancake carefully when one side is done.
Serve immediately on a hot dish.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the pancake sets.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and keeps the batter loose and tender.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the gluten and starch network that gives the pancake its body as it sets.
- Butter, lard, or dripping
- Greases the pan so the batter releases cleanly and fries the surface golden.
The step that matters
Heat the pan before pouring the batter. A properly hot, lightly greased pan sets the outside quickly so the pancake releases cleanly and browns evenly. A cold pan lets the batter stick and soak up fat, and the pancake tears when flipped.
“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.
More pancakes recipes
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 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.