Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Squash Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine mashed squash, sour milk, egg, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
Gradually add flour until the mixture is thick enough to fry.
Fry
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Squash
- Provides moisture and body, giving the cakes a tender, soft interior.
- Sour milk
- Adds acidity and moisture, reacting with baking soda to help the cakes rise.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure so the cakes hold together when fried.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour milk to produce gas, lightening the batter.
- Flour
- Provides starch and gluten structure, thickening the batter so it holds its shape.
The step that matters
Adding flour gradually. Flour must be added slowly so the batter reaches a thick, scoopable consistency. Too much flour makes the cakes dense and tough, while too little makes them spread and fall apart in the oil.
“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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