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Breakfast

Oatmeal Pancakes

A batter of cooked oatmeal, rye flour, molasses, and milk is fried into pancakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the molasses, salt, and ⅓ cup milk with the cooked oatmeal.

  2. Sift the baking powder into the rye flour and add it to the oatmeal mixture.

  3. Stir in the well-beaten egg and mix thoroughly.

  4. Thin the batter to your desired consistency with additional milk.

Cook

  1. Fry on a hot griddle until golden brown on both sides.

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.

  1. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Cooked oatmeal
Provides the bulk and a soft, tender body to the batter.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure so the pancakes hold together.
Rye flour
Supplies the main flour structure along with a earthy, nutty flavour.
Baking powder
Releases gas when heated, helping the pancakes rise and become light.
Milk
Adds moisture and sets the batter's thickness, which can be adjusted.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and helps browning.

The step that matters

Fry on a hot griddle until golden brown on both sides. If the griddle is not hot enough, the pancakes absorb fat, cook slowly and turn pale and dense. Enough heat sets the outside quickly so the leavening can lift the batter and the sugars in the molasses brown evenly.

“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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