Name: Wheat and Indian Griddle-cakes
Ingredients: 1 cup sour milk; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 beaten egg; 1 tablespoon melted butter; ⅔ teaspoon salt; 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal; ½ cup all-purpose flour (measured before sifting)

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 ↓

Wheat and Indian Griddle-cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Mix sour milk, baking soda, beaten egg, melted butter, salt, cornmeal, and flour in a bowl.
Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes before baking.
Dissolve the baking soda in 1 teaspoon of cold water and beat it into the mixture thoroughly.

Cook on the griddle

Preheat a griddle over medium‑high heat and pour batter onto it.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook until golden brown.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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

Sour milk: Its acidity reacts with baking soda and adds a tangy flavor to the batter.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that lightens the cakes.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds moisture and structure as it sets on the griddle.
All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they cook.
Yellow cornmeal: Adds a slightly grainy texture and corn flavor to the cakes.
Melted butter: Adds fat for tenderness, richness, and browning on the griddle surface.

The step that matters

Dissolving and beating in the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and evenly mixed so it reacts with the acid throughout the batter. Clumps cause patches that are bitter or uneven in rise.

“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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Wheat and Indian Griddle-cakes