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Dessert

Rose-coloured Pancakes

A pancake made with beetroot, egg yolks, sugar, flour, cream, and brandy, garnished with myrtle or edible flowers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Rose-coloured Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beet

  1. Scrape and boil the beet roots until tender.

  2. Beat the cooked beet roots in a mortar until fine.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until light.

  2. Mix in the flour, beet root, cream, and brandy until combined.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the mixture in a pan until golden brown.

  2. Garnish with sprigs of myrtle or edible flowers.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

Beet roots
Provide the main colour, earthy flavour, and moisture for the pancakes.
Egg yolks
Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set.
Flour
Gives the batter body so it holds together when fried.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the pancakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the batter brown as it cooks.

The step that matters

Frying until golden brown. Sugar and proteins brown through the Maillard reaction and caramelisation, but high heat can scorch the outside before the centre sets. Moderate heat lets the pancake cook through while browning evenly.

“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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