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 ↓
Waffles Without Yeast or Soda
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Scald the milk.
Melt the butter in the milk.
Let the mixture cool.
Mix the cooled mixture with the flour and salt.
Separate the egg whites and yolks.
Beat the whites and yolks apart.
Stir the yolks into the batter.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Bake in a hot waffle iron until golden brown.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour 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
- Yolks enrich the batter and whites, beaten and folded in, lighten it for a tender, airy texture.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten structure that sets the waffle as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness, and helps the waffle brown and release from the iron.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flour and forms the batter's base.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites hold air that makes the waffle light. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a dense, flat result. Fold gently so the air stays in the batter.
“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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