Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the eggs and salt thoroughly.
Add the sour milk or buttermilk and mix well.
Stir in the sifted flour.
Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add to the mixture.
Cook
Beat well and cook immediately on a very hot griddle.
Drop the batter onto the griddle using a tablespoon.
When brown on one side, quickly turn with a knife.
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.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
What each ingredient does
- Sour milk or buttermilk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Eggs
- They bind the batter and add structure and richness as the pancakes set.
- Sifted flour
- Its starch and proteins set during cooking to give the pancakes their body.
- Baking soda (in the method)
- It reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that lifts the pancakes.
The step that matters
Cook immediately on a very hot griddle. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the acidic batter, so its gas escapes if the batter waits. A very hot griddle sets the outside quickly, trapping that gas for a light, risen pancake.
“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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