Name: Recipe Flash: Pancakes and Pomegranate
Ingredients: I have fond memories of eating pancakes as a kid. As an adult, I’m terribly picky about them, and I don’t usually order pancakes off a breakfast menu if I can help it. But at the resort my family often goes to over Christmas, there are amazing, enticing pancakes, and I’m unable to resist them. These; 1 egg, separated; 1 egg white; 1/2 cup yogurt; 3 tablespoons flour; 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 teaspoon sugar; pinch of salt; 1/2 teaspoon butter; 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds (or other fruit); maple syrup

Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

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.

Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla + pomegranatetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together43 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Flour + pomegranatetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together89 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Yogurt + pomegranatetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together48 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Yogurt + vanillatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,191 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Swap the pomegranate

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, yogurt, flour, vanilla, sugar, butter, maple syrup):

Figfits better
Blueberryfits better
Bananafits better
Pomegranatethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, yogurt, flour, vanilla, sugar, butter, maple syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Ricotta Cheese	1/2 cup (124g) part-skim	174
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Pomegranate	1/2 cup seeds (87g)	72
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pancake	not in our table	0
Passion Fruit	not in our table	0
Syrup	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Fruit	not in our table	0

Recipe Flash: Pancakes and Pomegranate