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Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

A batter of flour, milk, eggs, salt, nutmeg, and lemon peel, fried into pancakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Charles Elme Francatelli · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Put the flour into a basin and hollow out the centre.

  2. Add the salt, nutmeg, chopped lemon peel, and a drop of milk to the flour and stir to dissolve.

  3. Break in the eggs and mix with a spoon into a smooth soft paste.

  4. Add the remainder of the milk and work the mixture vigorously until it forms a smooth liquid batter.

Cook the pancakes

  1. Set a frying‑pan on the fire.

  2. As soon as the pan gets hot, wipe it out clean with a cloth.

  3. Run about a teaspoonful of lard all over the bottom of the hot frying‑pan.

  4. Pour in half a small teaspoonful of the batter.

  5. Place the pan over the fire and cook until the pancake has set enough to flip, about a minute or so.

  6. Flip the pancake and bake the other side until cooked through.

  7. When done on both sides, turn the pancake onto its dish and sprinkle a little sugar over it.

  8. Repeat with the remaining batter in the same manner.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

694Calories
27 gProtein
15 gFat
109 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 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.

By Charles Elme Francatelli. 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. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Flour and milk 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

Flour
Provides the structure that sets the batter into a cooked pancake.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the pan.
Milk
Adds moisture and turns the flour and eggs into a pourable batter.
Lard (in the method)
Greases the pan so the pancakes release cleanly and brown lightly.

The step that matters

Working the batter to a smooth liquid. Stirring the flour and eggs into a smooth, evenly mixed batter prevents lumps. Lumps leave pockets of dry flour that cook unevenly and give a streaky pancake.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, egg):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Jalapenofits about as well
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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