Why it works: Buckwheat and flour work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Raised Buckwheat Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
In a small crock or large earthen pitcher, combine warm water (or water and milk) with salt.
Stir in enough buckwheat flour to thicken it to a stiff batter.
Add the yeast and mix until smooth.
Cover and let it rise in a warm place overnight.
In the morning, dissolve the baking soda in a little warm water and add it to the batter to remove any sour taste and increase lightness.
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.
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Buckwheat + flourtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + buckwheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together328 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
Swap the buckwheat
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour):
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Buckwheatthe original
- Cinnamonfits less well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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