Why it works: Milk and flour 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
In a bowl, combine sour milk and sweet milk.
Add eggs, baking soda, and baking powder; mix well.
Gradually add flour until the batter reaches your desired consistency.
Cook
Cook on a hot griddle 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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with baking soda to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, helping the cakes hold together when cooked.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release carbon dioxide, causing the cakes to rise.
- Baking powder
- Adds extra leavening so the cakes rise and become light as they cook.
- Flour
- Builds the batter's structure, setting into the body of the cakes as they cook.
The step that matters
Cook on a hot griddle until golden brown on both sides. A griddle that is too cool lets the batter spread and absorb moisture before it sets, giving flat, pale cakes. Enough heat sets the surface quickly and drives browning, which adds flavor.
“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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