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 eggs and stir them into the milk.
Mix some flour with a little milk, then gradually add the rest of the milk to form a batter.
If desired, add ginger, brandy, and salt to the batter.
Cook and serve
Heat a pan and add a piece of butter or lard, 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.
Serve immediately with sugar sprinkled on top.
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 + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure to the cooked pancakes.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that forms the batter and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Flour
- Forms the batter's structure as its starch sets during cooking.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavor to the batter.
The step that matters
Cook until one side is golden, then flip. Cooking over steady heat lets the underside set and brown before flipping; flipping too early tears the pancake, and too little heat leaves it pale and soft.
Swap the ginger
The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, brandy, butter):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, brandy, butter. 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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