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 ↓
Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat the griddle so it's hot when the batter is mixed.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Beat the egg well.
Make the batter
Stir the sour milk into the flour mixture.
Add the beaten egg and mix until well combined.
Cook
Pour spoonfuls of batter onto a hot greased griddle.
When bubbles form on top and one side is brown, flip the cakes using a broad knife or cake‑turner and brown the other side.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they cook.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that makes the cakes rise and turn light.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and its moisture hydrates the flour.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, binding the batter and helping it set when cooked.
The step that matters
Flip when bubbles form and the underside is brown. Flipping too early tears the cakes because the surface has not yet set; waiting for bubbles that stay open shows the structure is firm enough to turn. Flipping too late over-browns the bottom and dries the inside.
“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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