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 ↓
Pancakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Melt the butter until semi-liquid and add it to the flour.
Stir well, pouring in the milk until a thick cream-like batter forms.
Cook and serve
Warm a frying pan by melting a little butter in it and wipe it clean.
Add more butter to the pan and let it boil.
Pour in enough batter to cover the pan.
Fry until light brown on one side, then turn and fry the other side.
Serve hot on a dish, ready for the table.
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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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).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping the pancake brown and release from the pan.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and forms the thick, pourable batter that cooks into a tender pancake.
The step that matters
Pour in enough batter to cover the pan. Batter spread too thin cooks dry and brittle, while too thick a layer stays doughy in the middle. The batter should be thick enough to cover the pan evenly so it cooks through and browns uniformly.
“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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