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Dessert

Scotch Pancakes

A thin batter pancake cooked in a buttered pan, served with marmalade, jelly, lemon, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Margaret Brown · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 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 ↓

Scotch Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.

  2. Add the milk, eggs, and melted butter to the sifted mixture.

  3. Mix into a thin batter.

Cook the pancakes

  1. Heat a small round frying pan and melt a little butter in it.

  2. Pour 1/2 cupful of batter into the pan.

  3. Turn the pan to spread the batter evenly.

  4. Place the pan over a sharp fire to brown.

  5. Hold the pan up in front of the fire until the pancake rises.

Serve

  1. Spread each pancake with marmalade or jelly, roll it up, and serve with sliced lemon and sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

784Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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 Margaret Brown. 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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 structure of the batter once it sets in the pan.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the pancake.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its thin, pourable texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas that makes the pancake rise in the pan.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the pancake brown on the pan surface.

The step that matters

Hold the pan up in front of the fire until the pancake rises. The batter must be heated enough for baking powder to release gas and set the pancake while it rises. Heat that is too low leaves it flat and pale, while too much heat can scorch the underside before the top sets.

“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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