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Breakfast

To Make Pancakes

A batter of milk, eggs, flour, ginger, brandy, and salt is cooked in butter to make pancakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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To Make Pancakes

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

To Make Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, beat the milk and eggs together until well mixed.

  2. Gradually mix the flour with a little milk to form a thick batter, then add the remaining milk.

  3. Stir in the ground ginger, brandy, and salt until combined.

Cook the pancakes

  1. Heat a clean skillet and add a piece of butter.

  2. Pour a ladle of batter into the skillet, swirling to cover the bottom.

  3. Shake the pan gently; when the underside is golden, flip the pancake.

  4. Cook until both sides are golden, then place on a dish near the fire.

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

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

  2. Ginger + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set when cooked.
All-purpose flour
Forms the thick batter base and provides the structure that holds each pancake together.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and thins the batter to a pourable consistency.
Butter
Greases the skillet and adds fat for browning and flavor.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the batter.

The step that matters

Pour a ladle of batter and swirl to cover the bottom. The batter must be spread thinly and evenly so the pancake cooks through and browns uniformly. A thick or uneven layer sets unevenly, leaving raw spots or scorched edges.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, flour, brandy, butter, walnut):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, flour, brandy, butter, walnut. 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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