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Breakfast

Pancakes

Yeast-based pancakes made with cornmeal, rye or buckwheat flour, sweet milk, molasses, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Pancakes

Why it works: Milk and rye work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 918 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the beaten egg, yeast, sweet milk, molasses, cornmeal, and rye meal or buckwheat flour.

  2. Mix well and let the batter rise overnight.

Cook

  1. Fry the pancakes in hot fat like doughnuts.

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. Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Molasses + ryetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Egg + ryetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure to the pancakes.
Yeast
Ferments the batter so it rises overnight and becomes airy.
Cornmeal
Provides the main body and grainy texture of the pancakes.
Rye meal or buckwheat flour
Adds flavor and helps build structure alongside the cornmeal.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, depth of flavor, and some moisture to the batter.

The step that matters

Let the batter rise overnight. Yeast needs time to ferment the batter. Without a full rise, the pancakes will be dense and less flavorful, because fermentation builds both lift and taste.

“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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