Name: Soda Griddle Cakes
Ingredients: 1 pint milk; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; sufficient flour to make a thick batter

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 ↓

Soda Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

1 pint milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
sufficient flour to make a thick batter

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, stir together the milk, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add flour until you achieve a thick batter.

Cook

Heat a griddle and pour batter to form cakes.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.

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.

Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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

Baking soda: Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas, helping the pancakes rise and turn light.
Cream of tartar: Acidic partner to the baking soda, producing gas bubbles that leaven the batter.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its liquid body and moisture.
Flour: Provides the structure that sets the pancakes as they cook.

“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.