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Dessert

Graham Griddle Cakes

A griddle cake made with graham and wheat flour, eggs, baking soda, sour milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Graham Griddle Cakes

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Graham Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix graham flour, wheat flour, sugar, and salt.

  2. Add the egg yolks and beat well.

  3. Dissolve baking soda in cold water and add to the mixture.

  4. Stir in sour milk and melted butter, then mix until smooth.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter.

Cook

  1. Fry on a soapstone griddle without grease 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.

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.

  1. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  3. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

Eggs
Yolks enrich the batter, and whipped whites lighten it so the cakes stay tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk's acid to release gas, helping the cakes rise.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tang and moisture to the batter.
Graham flour
Provides the coarse, nutty body and texture that defines these cakes.
Wheat flour
Supplies gluten for structure, holding the cakes together while they cook.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness, tenderness, and browning on the griddle.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that makes the cakes light. Overmixing after folding deflates them, leaving dense cakes.

“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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