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Dessert

Stir Pan Cakes

A batter of milk, flour, eggs and salt cooked in a hot pan to make thin cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Stir Pan Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs, adding the flour and milk alternately so as to form a thin smooth batter.

Cook and serve

  1. When ready to cook them, have a frying pan just hot enough to melt butter (about a tablespoonful) then pour in a teacup of this batter, stirring immediately, the same as scrambled eggs, keeping the batter in the centre of the pan, then allow it to remain until it browns lightly on the under side, then turn over.

  2. When the other side is brown also, place it on a hot dish, but never allow them to be put on top of each other.

  3. To be baked and served at once, as they are too delicate to wait.

  4. To be eaten with butter and fine sugar, the same as waffles.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

682Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78

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

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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 + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour 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

Eggs
Beaten into the batter to give structure and help the cakes set when cooked.
Flour
Provides the body that holds the thin batter together as it cooks.
Milk
Thins the batter and adds moisture so the cakes stay tender.

The step that matters

Turning the cakes. Turn each cake only once the underside has browned lightly. The batter needs to set first; turning too early tears the thin cake and leaves it doughy in the middle.

“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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