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 ↓
Kaiser Schmarren
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix flour, eggs, salt, milk, and melted butter in a bowl.
Whisk until smooth.
Cook the pancake
Melt lard in a pot until very hot.
Pour the batter into the pot and cook as a large pancake over high heat.
While cooking, lift the edges of the pancake to let uncooked batter flow underneath.
When the pancake is set, separate it with a spatula and flip pieces to cook the other side until browned.
Keep cooking until no charred pieces form.
Serve
Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Flour
- Forms the batter's structure once it sets in the hot pot.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the pancake as it cooks.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and keeps the batter loose.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and flavor in the batter.
- Lard
- Heated in the pot, it fries the batter and promotes browning on the surface.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the exterior brown.
The step that matters
Keep cooking until no charred pieces form. The pancake is torn and flipped in pieces, so sugar and fat on exposed surfaces can scorch quickly. Cooking over high heat in hot fat browns the surface, but the cook must watch for burnt bits and pull the pieces off the heat before they blacken.
“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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