Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Sour-milk Oakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift the flour, salt, and Indian meal into a bowl.
In another bowl, mix the buttermilk, molasses, and baking soda until foamy.
Pour the liquid mixture into the center of the dry ingredients.
Mix and bake
Stir with a wooden spoon until combined, then beat vigorously for 2 minutes.
Bake immediately on a hot griddle.
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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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Buttermilk + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together526 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas, lifting the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in buttermilk to release carbon dioxide, so the oakes rise and turn light.
- Flour
- Provides the gluten and starch that form the structure of the batter.
- Indian meal
- Adds coarse cornmeal body and texture to the batter.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, depth of flavour and some moisture to the batter.
The step that matters
Bake immediately on a hot griddle. The baking soda starts reacting with the buttermilk as soon as they are mixed, so the gas escapes if the batter waits. Baking right away on a hot griddle sets the rise and browns the surface.
“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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