Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Flapjacks
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine sour milk or cream, flour, salt, and baking soda.
Beat in the eggs until well mixed.
Cook
Preheat a well-greased griddle over medium heat.
Pour batter onto the griddle and cook until golden brown on both sides.
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 + 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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Sour milk or cream
- Provides acidity that reacts with the baking soda to make the pancakes rise.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter once its starch sets during cooking.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter and helping it set as it cooks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk or cream to release gas that lifts the pancakes.
The step that matters
Cooking the pancakes on a well-greased, moderately heated griddle. Too little heat or grease makes the batter stick and tear, while too much browns the outside before the centre sets. Medium heat lets the batter cook through and turn an even golden brown.
“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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