Name: Mother R.'s Buckwheat Cakes
Ingredients: 1 quart lukewarm water; 1 pinch coarse sea salt; 2 tablespoons molasses; buckwheat flour (enough to thicken); ¼ cake compressed yeast; a little warm water; a small amount of baking soda

Why it works: Buckwheat and flour work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mother R.'s Buckwheat Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine lukewarm water, coarse sea salt, and molasses.
Stir in buckwheat flour until the mixture is thick enough to run off a spoon.
Dissolve the compressed yeast in a little warm water and add it to the mixture.
Let the batter rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
In the morning, add a small amount of baking soda and stir.
Let it stand until ready to fry.

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.

Buckwheat + flourtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together660 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + buckwheattop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together199 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).