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Sour Milk Griddle-cakes

A griddle cake made from sour milk, cornmeal, flour, yeast, butter, eggs, and soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

Sour Milk Griddle-cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Stir into one quart of boiling milk three cups of corn meal.

  2. After it cools add one cup of white flour, a teaspoon of salt and three tablespoons of homemade yeast.

  3. Mix overnight.

  4. In the morning add one tablespoon of melted butter or lard, two beaten eggs and a teaspoon of soda dissolved in a little water.

  5. Let the batter stand a few minutes after adding the butter and soda to allow it to rise slightly; meanwhile heat the griddle.

Prepare the griddle

  1. Take a small stick like a good-sized skewer, wind a bit of cloth around its end, fasten it by winding a piece of thread around it and tying it firmly.

  2. Melt together a tablespoon of butter and lard.

  3. Grease the griddle with the melted butter and lard.

  4. Between batches, wipe the griddle with a clean paper or cloth and grease again.

Cook the cakes

  1. Place the batter on the griddle by spoonfuls or carefully pour from a pitcher, aiming for uniform size.

  2. When they begin to bubble all over, flip them and cook on the other side until they stop puffing.

  3. The second batch cooks better as the griddle becomes evenly heated.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1059Calories
38 gProtein
35 gFat
149 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Corn meal
Forms the bulk of the batter and gives the cakes their grainy, hearty texture.
White flour
Adds structure so the batter holds together and sets on the griddle.
Yeast
Ferments the batter overnight so the cakes rise and become light.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add richness and structure to the cakes.
Soda
Reacts with the sour milk acid to release gas, helping the cakes rise and brown.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the soda and adds a tangy flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the soda last and cooking on a well-heated, greased griddle. Soda reacts with the sour milk acid immediately, so it should go in just before cooking to keep its lift. A properly heated, greased griddle sets the surface quickly and gives even browning without sticking.

“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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