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 ↓
Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine 3 ounces of flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons of milk, mixing well with a wooden spoon.
Gradually stir in ½ pint of milk until the mixture is smooth.
Let the mixture stand for a while if possible.
Fry and serve
Heat a frying pan and add a piece of lard the size of a chestnut.
Pour 2 large tablespoons of batter into the pan, spreading it thinly.
When the pancake is light brown on one side, toss it to brown the other side.
Heat a plate in front of the fire.
Transfer the fried pancake to the heated plate.
Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice and sprinkle with moist sugar.
Roll up the pancake and place it on the edge of the plate.
Repeat frying the remaining pancakes, adding lard as needed.
Serve the pancakes stacked on a hot dish.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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 thin pancake together when tossed.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the pancake as it cooks.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its pourable, moist texture.
- Lard
- Greases the pan and adds fat that helps the pancake brown.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness that complements the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Let the batter stand. Resting lets the flour fully absorb the liquid, so the batter thickens slightly and the pancakes stay tender rather than tough.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, milk, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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