Skip to main content
Main

Pancakes, with Minced Veal and Ham

A batter of sour cream, eggs, and flour is folded with minced veal and ham, then fried into pancakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pancakes, with Minced Veal and Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Mix sour cream, eggs, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.

  2. Add enough water to create a batter.

  3. Gradually add flour until a dough forms.

  4. Roll out the dough and cut into small, thin rounds.

Fill and fry

  1. Place a teaspoon of the minced veal and ham mixture on each round.

  2. Wet the edges and cover with another round, pressing the edges together.

  3. Heat frying fat in a pan.

  4. Drop the pancakes into the hot fat and fry until golden brown.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Cream + hamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, keeping the dough tender and slightly acidic.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure as it sets during frying.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream to lighten the dough and aid browning.
Flour
Forms the dough's structure so it can be rolled and sealed around the filling.
Minced veal and ham
Provides the highly seasoned, savory filling that flavours each pancake.

The step that matters

Pressing the edges together. If the edges are not wetted and sealed firmly, the filling can leak into the hot fat and the pancakes may open while frying. A tight seal keeps the filling enclosed as the dough cooks and browns.

“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.

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes