Name: Thin Pancakes
Ingredients: 1 glass of wine; ½ nutmeg, grated; flour, as needed

Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Thin Pancakes

Ingredients

1 glass of wine
½ nutmeg, grated
flour, as needed

Directions

In a bowl, combine the wine, grated nutmeg, and enough flour to create a batter slightly thicker than pancake batter.
Heat a frying pan over medium heat and wipe it with a clean cloth.
Pour the batter into the pan to make thin pancakes.

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.

Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Wine + nutmegtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,356 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Wine + flourtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,435 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Wine: Liquid that moistens the batter and adds a light flavour to the pancakes.
Flour: Provides structure as it combines with the liquid to form the batter.
Nutmeg: Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pancakes.