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Indian Griddle Cakes

A batter of cornmeal, wheat flour, yeast, baking soda, salt, water, and eggs cooked on a griddle and served with butter and syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Indian Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, baking soda, and salt.

  2. Stir in enough yellow cornmeal to create a batter.

  3. Add wheat flour and mix until smooth.

  4. Cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm place overnight.

Cook and serve

  1. In the morning, add the beaten eggs and mix well.

  2. Preheat a griddle and pour batter to cook until golden brown.

  3. Serve hot with butter and syrup.

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. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,540 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Yeast
Ferments the batter overnight, producing gas that makes the cakes light and airy.
Wheat flour
Provides the gluten structure that holds the risen batter together as it cooks.
Yellow cornmeal
Gives the batter body and a grainy texture with a mild corn flavor.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the cakes set and brown when cooked.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter's acidity to add lift and help browning.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rise overnight in a warm place. Yeast needs warmth and time to ferment the batter. A cool spot slows rising, and the batter may stay dense and flat.

“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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