Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Meal Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Combine corn meal and flour in a bowl.
Add water until a soft batter forms.
Stir in eggs, salt, molasses, baking powder, and melted butter.
Mix until well combined and smooth.
Cook
Heat a griddle over medium heat and pour batter to form cakes.
Cook until bubbles form, then flip and cook until golden brown.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Corn meal
- Forms the main body of the cakes and gives them their grainy texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure to the cakes as they set.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and turn light.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavor, and helps the cakes brown.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing tenderness and flavor to the cakes.
The step that matters
Cook until bubbles form, then flip. Bubbles appearing on the surface show the batter has set enough to hold its shape when flipped. Flipping too early can tear the cakes, while waiting too long can dry them out.
“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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