Why it works: Flour and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,873 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Crapes. — Pancakes.
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix flour, eggs, brandy, salt, milk, and enough water to achieve a smooth batter.
Cook and serve
Heat a frying pan and melt the lard, butter, or oil.
Pour a ladleful of batter into the pan, spreading it thinly.
Cook until one side is done, then flip to cook the other side.
Serve hot.
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.
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + walnuttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,236 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Flour and milk 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the thin pancake together.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it cooks.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps the batter reach a smooth, pourable consistency.
- Lard, butter, or oil
- Greases the pan so the pancakes release cleanly and brown evenly.
The step that matters
Spreading the batter thinly. A thin layer of batter cooks through quickly and evenly, while a thick pour can stay raw in the centre and burn on the outside before it sets.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, brandy, milk):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Hazelnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, brandy, milk. 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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