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 ↓
Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the egg yolks and half the egg whites together.
Stir in the milk gradually, mixing well.
Combine the flour with a little milk, then add the rest of the milk mixture gradually.
Add the ginger, brandy, and salt, and mix thoroughly.
Cook and serve
Heat butter or lard in a pan, then pour in a ladleful of batter.
Swirl the pan to spread the batter evenly.
Cook until one side is golden, then flip and cook the other side.
Drain excess grease before serving.
Sprinkle with sugar before serving.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 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
- Yolks and whites add richness and help bind and lift the batter.
- All-purpose flour
- Starch and gluten form the structure that holds the pancake together.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that hydrates the flour and gives the batter its fluid body.
- Butter or lard
- Fat for frying that conducts heat and promotes golden browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Cook until one side is golden, then flip. Flipping too early leaves the batter unset and it tears; the surface must firm and brown first so the pancake holds its shape and browns evenly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, brandy, butter, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, brandy, butter, sugar. 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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