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 ↓
Soft Waffles
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Rub in the butter until well combined.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, mixing into a smooth batter.
Cook and serve
Pour the batter into hot, well-greased waffle irons.
Sprinkle with sifted sugar.
Serve hot.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the waffle batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the waffles rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and adds richness.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and makes the batter pourable.
The step that matters
Pour into hot, well-greased irons. Batter poured into a cold or poorly greased iron sticks and tears when lifted. A hot iron sets the outside quickly, giving a crisp exterior and clean release.
“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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