Why it works: Flour and milk 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 ↓
Oatmeal Griddle Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the milk into the oatmeal.
Add the salt, egg yolks, and boiling water. Mix well.
Sift the flour with the baking powder. Add to the mixture and beat again.
Fold in the egg whites beaten to stiff peaks.
Cook
Grease a hot griddle with a piece of fat.
Pour batter onto the griddle to cook.
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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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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Egg whites beaten to stiff peaks add lift and an airy, light texture to the batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cakes to rise and become tender.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the cakes together as they cook.
- Oatmeal
- Forms the bulk of the batter, adding body, moisture and a hearty texture.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites beaten to stiff peaks. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the whites; stirring vigorously would deflate the foam and leave the cakes flatter and denser.
“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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