Name: Economical Griddle Cakes
Ingredients: scraps of cold hominy; scraps of rice; mashed potato; small pieces of bread; 1 pint of milk (or more, as needed); flour (to make a batter); 2 teaspoons of baking soda (or refined saleratus); sweet milk (as needed); 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (maizena)

Why it works: Rice and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 851 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Economical Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Collect all edible scraps in a stone jar or pitcher.
Add any leftover milk until you have about 1 pint.
Mix the scraps with flour to form a batter.
Sweeten the batter with baking soda and adjust consistency with sweet milk if necessary.
For a variation, add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch instead of eggs.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Rice + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together851 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Rice + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).