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Buttbemilk Pancakes

A simple buttermilk pancake batter made with flour, egg, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and buttermilk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Buttbemilk Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, egg, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder.

  2. Gradually add the buttermilk and mix until well combined.

  3. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a hot, greased pan or griddle.

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.

  1. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 starch and gluten network that gives the pancakes their body and structure.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps set the structure as the pancakes cook.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and helps the surface brown as it cooks.
Baking powder
Releases gas as it reacts with liquid and heat, making the pancakes rise and become light.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and mild acidity, which gives tang and tenderness to the pancakes.

The step that matters

Drop the batter onto a hot, greased pan. A properly hot, greased surface sets the outside of each pancake quickly so it holds its shape and releases cleanly. A cool or dry pan lets the batter spread and stick, and the pancakes cook unevenly.

“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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