Name: Waffles Without Waffle Irons
Ingredients: batter (from any waffle recipe); butter (for greasing); powdered sugar (for serving); maple sugar (optional, for serving); cream (optional, for serving)

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Waffles Without Waffle Irons

Ingredients

batter (from any waffle recipe)
butter (for greasing)
powdered sugar (for serving)
maple sugar (optional, for serving)
cream (optional, for serving)

Directions

Prepare an iron saucepan with a smooth, even bottom.
Heat and grease the saucepan well.
Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom thinly.
Keep the saucepan in a hot place on the stove, but not too hot, and cover it with a tin cover.
When the waffle is cooked enough to turn, do so quickly to avoid breaking it.
Once baked on both sides, remove the waffle to a plate and generously butter it.
Place the buttered waffle in the oven to keep hot.
Repeat the process to make additional waffles.
Serve the waffles hot, cut into pie-shaped pieces, and layer them.
Sift powdered sugar over each layer as you butter them.
Serve with maple sugar and cream if desired.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).