Why it works: Cinnamon and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Boil the milk and cream with cinnamon and lemon peel for 15 minutes.
In a bowl, beat the eggs well.
Stir in the flour until smooth.
Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon from the milk mixture and add it to the batter.
Mix in sugar, brandy, and a little grated nutmeg.
Cook and serve
Heat a pan and add a little clarified butter.
Wipe the pan with a clean cloth and add more butter.
Pour a large spoonful of batter into the pan.
Cook until light brown on both sides, then remove.
Dust with sifted sugar, roll like a wafer, and serve hot.
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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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the pan.
- Flour
- Provides the starch that thickens the batter and gives the pancakes their body.
- Milk and cream mixed
- Supplies the liquid that turns the batter into a thin, pourable mixture and adds richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during cooking.
- Clarified butter
- Fat for frying that keeps the pancakes from sticking and adds browning and flavour.
The step that matters
Wipe the pan and add more butter. A thin, even layer of fat keeps the batter from sticking and helps the pancake brown evenly. Too much butter can fry unevenly, while a dry pan makes the pancake stick and tear.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, cinnamon, egg, flour, sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, cinnamon, egg, flour, sugar, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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