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, salt, egg, and baking soda.
Gradually add flour until the batter reaches the desired thickness.
Cook
Preheat a griddle over medium heat.
Pour batter onto the griddle and cook until bubbles form, then flip and cook until golden brown.
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
- Provides liquid and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the cakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour milk to release gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the batter and controls its thickness.
The step that matters
Cooking until bubbles form before flipping. Bubbles appearing on the surface show the batter has set enough to hold its shape and that the leavening has released gas. Flipping too early can tear the cakes or leave them flat, while waiting until golden brown on the first side helps them cook through evenly.
“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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