Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Wheat Griddle-cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the sweet milk and melted butter.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until smooth.
Cook
Heat a well-greased griddle over medium-high heat.
Pour batter onto the griddle and cook until light 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.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pancake together as it sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the pancakes rise and become light.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its moisture and tender texture.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness, and helps the pancakes brown.
The step that matters
Cook over medium-high heat until light brown. The griddle must be hot and well greased so the batter sets and browns evenly. If it is too cool, pancakes absorb fat, turn pale and stay doughy inside; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre sets.
“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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