Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the Graham base
Boil 1 ¼ cups of milk.
Pour it over the Graham flour, stirring until smooth.
Add the cold milk.
Set aside to cool.
Mix and cook
Mix the all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda in a bowl, then sift the dry ingredients.
Add them to the cooled Graham mixture along with the beaten eggs.
Stir until well combined.
Cook on a griddle 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.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Graham flour
- Provides the coarse, nutty body and structure of the batter.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the cakes hold together.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to lift the cakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas for rising.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flours and supplies moisture for a tender batter.
The step that matters
Cook on a griddle until golden brown. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction between sugars and proteins at the surface. Cooking too hot scorches the outside before the centre sets, while too cool a griddle leaves cakes pale and gummy.
“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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