Name: Rhode Island Pancakes
Ingredients: 1 pint Indian meal; 1 pint rye flour; 2 tablespoons molasses; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt; 3 eggs, well beaten; new milk (enough to make a stiff batter); lard (for frying)

Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rhode Island Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, combine Indian meal, rye flour, molasses, baking soda, salt, and beaten eggs.
Stir in enough new milk to create a stiff batter.

Fry and serve

Heat lard in a frying pan over medium heat.
Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot lard and fry for about 10 minutes, turning until golden brown.

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.

Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together918 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Indian meal: Provides the main body and coarse, grainy texture of the pancake.
Rye flour: Adds structure and a deeper, earthier flavor alongside the cornmeal.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help hold the pancakes together while frying.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter and helps it rise.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and promotes browning in the pan.

The step that matters

Frying the batter in hot lard. The lard must be hot enough to set the outside quickly; if it is too cool the batter soaks up fat and spreads, and if too hot the outside browns before the centre cooks. Turning once the edges set helps even cooking.

“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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Rhode Island Pancakes