Name: To Make Buckwheat or Johnny Cake
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 quart buttermilk; flour (enough to make a thin batter); 1 egg; buckwheat flour or Indian meal (if buckwheat is unavailable)

Why it works: Flour and buckwheat work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Make Buckwheat or Johnny Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 quart buttermilk
flour (enough to make a thin batter)
1 egg
buckwheat flour or Indian meal (if buckwheat is unavailable)

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Mix the baking soda into the buttermilk.
Add enough flour to create a thin batter.
Incorporate the egg into the mixture.
If using Indian meal, substitute for buckwheat flour.

Bake

Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until done.

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.

Flour + buckwheattop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together660 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Buttermilk + buckwheattop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together40 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg + buckwheattop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together224 recipes

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

Flour and egg 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

Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release gas, helping the batter rise.
Buttermilk: Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and adds tang and moisture.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Buckwheat flour: Gives the johnny cake its characteristic earthy flavour and dense texture.