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 ↓
Jolly Boys
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Scald the cornmeal and let it cool.
In a bowl, mix the cooled cornmeal, flour, eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar, milk, and salt until thick.
Fry
Heat the lard in a pan over high heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot lard and fry until golden brown on both sides.
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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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the pancake and gives it a coarse, grainy texture and corn flavor.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the pancakes hold together when fried.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid with the baking soda to help the pancakes rise and stay tender.
The step that matters
Frying in hot lard. The lard must be hot enough that the spoonfuls of batter brown quickly on the outside. If the fat is too cool, the batter soaks up grease and the pancakes turn heavy and greasy rather than crisp and golden.
“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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