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 ↓
Batter Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, mix flour and baking soda thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.
Make and cook the batter
Combine flour mixture with sour milk and beaten egg yolks.
Fold in the beaten egg whites just before cooking.
Heat a griddle and pour batter to form cakes, cooking until golden brown.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they set.
- Sour milk
- Supplies the liquid and its acidity reacts with baking soda to help the cakes rise.
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and binding, while whipped whites lighten the batter for a tender texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour milk to produce gas that makes the cakes rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavor and a softer crumb.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites just before cooking. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives lift. Their foam collapses over time, so folding them in gently and cooking right away keeps the cakes light instead of flat and dense.
“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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