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Breakfast

American Pancakes

American pancakes made with flour, cream, eggs, butter, and served with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

American Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, gradually mix the flour with the cream.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks and egg whites, and a pinch of salt.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat fresh butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Pour batter into the skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides.

  3. Serve with sugar sifted over the pancakes.

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.

  1. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the pancake together as it sets.
Heavy cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the batter a tender texture.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, and help bind the batter while it sets.
Egg whites
Add air and lift, helping the pancakes puff and stay light.

The step that matters

Frying until golden brown on both sides. Medium heat lets the centre cook through before the outside browns too far. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction, which needs surface heat, so a skillet that is too hot can scorch the outside while the inside stays raw.

“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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