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 ↓
Griddle-cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix and sift flour, salt, and baking soda.
Add sour milk and the beaten egg.
Cook and serve
Drop spoonfuls onto a greased hot griddle.
Cook until puffed, full of bubbles, and edges are cooked.
Turn and cook the other side.
Serve with butter and maple syrup.
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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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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 pancake together as it cooks.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the pancakes rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas, lifting the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness.
The step that matters
Cook until puffed and full of bubbles before turning. Bubbles forming on the surface show the leavening has done its work and the centre is setting. Turning too early can deflate the pancake and leave it dense and doughy inside.
“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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