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Corn Meal Griddle Cakes

A batter of cornmeal, eggs, butter, and milk cooked on a griddle to make small cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Corn Meal Griddle Cakes

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Corn Meal Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine corn meal, melted butter, salt, eggs, and sugar in a bowl.

  2. Add enough sour milk to create a batter consistency.

  3. If the batter is too thick, add a few drops of vinegar to adjust.

Cook

  1. Heat a griddle over medium heat.

  2. Pour batter onto the griddle to form cakes.

  3. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn meal
Provides the main body and grainy texture of the pancakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure to the cakes as they set.
Sour milk
Adds moisture and tang, and loosens the batter to pouring consistency.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and helps keep the cakes tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of sour milk to help the cakes rise.

The step that matters

Adjusting the batter consistency. Corn meal absorbs liquid as it sits, so the batter can thicken quickly. Adding sour milk gradually and checking the texture keeps the cakes light and pourable rather than dense.

“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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