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Dessert

Squash Griddle Cakes

A batter of cooked squash, eggs, milk, flour, and baking soda is fried into golden cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Squash Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the cooked squash, eggs, and milk.

  2. Add salt to taste and mix well.

  3. Gradually add flour until the batter reaches a consistency suitable for frying.

  4. Stir in the dissolved baking soda.

Cook

  1. Heat a griddle and pour batter to form cakes, cooking until golden brown on both sides.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cooked squash
Adds moisture and body, and a mild sweetness to the batter.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help the cakes hold their shape while cooking.
Milk
Thins the batter and adds moisture and richness for a tender interior.
Flour
Provides structure, thickening the batter to a consistency that holds on the griddle.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter to create gas bubbles that lighten the cakes; browns the surface.

The step that matters

Gradually add flour until the batter reaches a consistency suitable for frying. Flour thickens the batter as it hydrates, so adding it all at once can leave lumps or an overly stiff batter. Adding it gradually lets you stop when the batter pours and spreads evenly, which helps the cakes cook through and brown uniformly.

“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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