Name: Flannel Cakes or Crumpets
Ingredients: two pounds of flour; three pints of flour; a pint of milk; four eggs; three table-spoonfuls of the best brewer's yeast; one side; two tea-spoonfuls of salt; four table-spoonfuls of the best brewer's yeast

Why it works: Milk and tea work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 738 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Flannel Cakes or Crumpets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the first batter

Sift two pounds of flour.
Beat four eggs lightly.
Mix three tablespoonfuls of brewer's yeast (or four and a half of homemade yeast) with a teaspoon of salt.
Warm a pint of milk.
Stir the flour into the warm milk to make a stiff batter.
Stir the beaten eggs and yeast into the batter, beating well.
If the batter is too stiff, add a little more warm milk.
Cover the pan and set it to rise near the fire.

Bake and serve

Bake until light.
Heat a baking iron, grease it, pour a ladle-full of batter, bake slowly, flip when done on one side.
Butter the cakes, cut across, serve hot.

Make the second batter

Sift three pints of flour.
Mix two teaspoons of salt with the flour.
Make a deep hole in the middle.
Stir warm water into yeast, pour into the hole.
Stir with a spoon to make a thin batter, sprinkle flour over top.
Cover pan, set in warm place for several hours.
When light, add half a pint more lukewarm water, add more flour, knead into dough for ten minutes.
Divide into small pieces, knead each separately, shape into round cakes or rolls.
Cover, let rise about an hour and a half.
Bake, then leave in oven without lid for about ten minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

682Calories

27 gProtein

14 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
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.

By Eliza Leslie. 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.

Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour + teatop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together449 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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: Forms the batter's structure, setting into the crumb as it cooks.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, helping the crumpets hold together.
Brewer's yeast: Ferments the batter, producing gas bubbles that make the crumpets rise and become light.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness to the batter and helps it rise.

The step that matters

Heating the baking iron and cooking slowly. Batter poured onto a hot greased iron can brown before the centre sets. Cooking slowly lets the gas bubbles expand and the crumb cook through, giving a light, evenly cooked crumpet.

“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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Flannel Cakes or Crumpets