Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the eggs extremely well.
Mix the strained eggs with cream, sugar, nutmeg, sherry, and enough flour to make a batter slightly thicker than ordinary pancake batter.
Heat a frying pan until hot and wipe it clean.
Cook and serve
Pour in enough batter for a thin pancake and fry for about five minutes.
Stack the pancakes with sifted sugar between each and serve hot with cut lemon.
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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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 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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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, setting the batter as the pancakes cook.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the pancakes a tender, rich texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so it holds together when poured and fried.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pancakes brown lightly in the pan.
The step that matters
Pour in enough batter for a thin pancake. Too much batter makes a thick, doughy pancake that cooks unevenly and may stay raw in the middle. A thin layer heats through evenly and sets quickly in the hot pan.
“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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