Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the eggs well, leaving out half the whites.
Stir the eggs into the milk.
Mix the flour with a little milk, then gradually add the rest.
Add the ginger, brandy, and salt, and stir well.
Cook and serve
Heat butter or lard in a pan.
Pour a ladleful of batter into the pan, moving it to spread the batter.
Shake the pan, and when one side is golden, flip it.
Cook until both sides are done, then drain excess grease.
Serve with a sprinkle of sugar on top.
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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Milk + buttertop 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).
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Milk + flourtop 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 + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the pancakes set.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that give the pancakes body and structure.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and tenderness to the batter.
- Butter or lard
- Fat for frying that promotes even browning on the pancake surface.
The step that matters
Shake the pan and flip when one side is golden. Flipping too early, before the underside has set and browned, makes the pancake tear or stick. Waiting for a golden colour means the structure is firm enough to turn cleanly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, brandy, butter, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, brandy, butter, sugar. 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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