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 ↓
Batter Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the cream, sour milk or buttermilk, eggs, and salt.
Add enough flour to create a stiff batter, mixing well.
If making griddle cakes, use less flour for a thinner batter.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a deep dish and bake until golden.
Serve hot with butter.
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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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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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it cooks.
- Sour milk or buttermilk
- Adds acidity and tenderness, and reacts with the saleratus to help the batter rise.
- Saleratus (baking soda)
- Neutralizes the acidity of the sour milk and helps the batter rise.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure, setting the batter as it bakes.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving a softer, richer crumb.
The step that matters
Mixing in the flour. Too much flour makes the batter stiff and dense, while too little leaves it thin and slack. The flour amount sets the texture, so add it gradually until the batter reaches the stiffness the recipe calls for.
“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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