Why it works: Flour and milk 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 ↓
Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix the milk and beaten egg yolk.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir well to combine.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Cook and serve
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a well greased griddle.
Cook until bubbles form on top and the bottom is brown, then flip and brown the other side.
Serve immediately.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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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 + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Flour
- Provides the starch structure that holds the batter together as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Egg whites trapped by folding add lift, and the yolks bind and enrich the batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, making the cakes rise and turn light and airy.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its liquid body and tender moisture.
The step that matters
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Folding gently preserves the air bubbles in the whites; stirring or overmixing knocks them out, so the cakes come out flat and dense instead of light.
“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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