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Buttermilk Waffles

A batter of buttermilk, eggs, lard, baking soda, and flour is cooked in a waffle iron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Buttermilk Waffles

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, lard, and baking soda.

  2. Gradually add flour until you achieve a thick batter.

Bake

  1. Preheat your waffle iron.

  2. Fill the waffle iron with the batter.

  3. Bake according to your waffle iron's instructions.

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. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Buttermilk + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,986 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Buttermilk
Adds acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the waffles rise and gives a tender crumb.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness, helping the batter hold its shape while cooking.
Lard
Adds fat for tenderness and helps the waffles crisp and release from the iron.
Baking soda
Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that lightens the batter.
Flour
Forms the gluten and starch structure that sets the batter into a waffle.

The step that matters

Gradually add flour until you achieve a thick batter. Adding flour gradually lets you judge the consistency, since too much flour makes waffles dense and dry while too little leaves them loose and soggy. Gluten develops more with extra mixing, so stir only until smooth.

“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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