Name: Buckwheat Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup sifted Graham flour; 2 cups buckwheat flour; 1 tablespoon molasses; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ cup liquid hop yeast; water or milk (as needed); 1 teaspoon baking soda (dissolved in a little water)

Why it works: Flour and buckwheat work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Buckwheat Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the Graham flour, buckwheat flour, molasses, salt, and liquid hop yeast.
Add enough water or milk to achieve the right consistency for baking.
Before baking, mix in the dissolved baking soda.
For the next day, maintain the same proportions and add new yeast once a week.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

Flour + buckwheattop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together660 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Buckwheat + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together328 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Buckwheat + molassestop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together199 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Buckwheat flour: Provides the bulk of the structure and a distinctive earthy flavour in the batter.
Liquid hop yeast: Ferments the batter so it becomes light and airy as it rises.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic batter to add lift and help the cakes rise further.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, depth of flavour and some moisture to the batter.