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Herb Pancakes

Herb pancakes are pancakes rolled with a butter‑herb‑ham mixture and steamed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Herb Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Finely chop the herbs.

  2. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the herbs; cook until tender.

  3. Mix in the minced ham or bacon.

Roll and steam

  1. Spread a thin layer of the herb mixture over each pancake and roll them up.

  2. Place the rolled pancakes closely side by side in a saucepan.

  3. Add just enough stock to prevent burning, cover, and steam for 30 minutes.

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.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Chive + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together163 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Chive + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Parsley + spinachtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,025 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds fat and richness to the herb filling and helps the herbs cook gently.
Herbs
Provide the green flavour and aroma that define the filling.
Minced ham or bacon
Adds savoury, salty flavour and meaty texture to the filling.
Stock
Supplies liquid for steaming so the pancakes do not burn while cooking.

The step that matters

Add just enough stock. Too little liquid lets the pan scorch the pancakes before they steam through, while too much makes them soggy. A measured amount of stock keeps the base moist and prevents burning during the covered steaming.

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, chive, thyme, ham):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Spinachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, chive, thyme, ham. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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