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Geaham Griddle Cakes

A batter of Indian meal, Graham flour, yeast, molasses, and milk, baked on a griddle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Geaham Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine 1 pound of Indian meal with 1 pint of warm water and 2 quarts of cold milk in a bowl.

  2. Mix in 1 pound of Graham flour to create a light batter.

  3. Add 1 ounce of dissolved compressed yeast and 1 large spoonful of molasses. Mix well.

  4. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the batter rest overnight.

Finish and cook

  1. In the morning, add a handful of white flour, a little salt, 1 spoonful of melted butter, and a pinch of baking soda.

  2. Add water if necessary to achieve a light batter.

  3. Cook the batter like Buckwheat Cakes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 texture of the cakes.
Graham flour
Adds structure and a nutty, wholesome flavour to the batter.
Compressed yeast
Ferments the overnight batter, creating bubbles that lighten the cakes.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour, and helps browning on the griddle.
Baking soda
Reacts with the fermented batter's acidity to add extra lift and tenderness.
Milk
Supplies moisture and richness, softening the batter and adding browning.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rest overnight. Yeast needs time to ferment the batter; resting it long enough builds the bubbles and flavour that make the cakes light. Cutting the rest short leaves the cakes 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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