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 ↓
Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
In a bowl, combine the well-beaten egg and milk.
In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda, cream of tartar, and flour.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Cook the cakes
Heat a griddle over medium heat and pour batter to form cakes.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook until golden brown.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds richness and structure to the cakes.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its pourable, tender texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the cakes rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that activates the baking soda, helping the cakes rise and stay light.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cakes as its proteins set when cooked.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Gradually adding the dry ingredients and stirring only until smooth keeps the batter from becoming overmixed. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which can make the cakes tough and dense.
“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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