Name: Wheat Griddle Cakes
Ingredients: 1 cake Fleischmann's yeast; 1 cup milk, scalded and cooled; 1 cup lukewarm water; 2 cups sifted flour; 2 eggs; 2 tablespoons lard or butter, melted; 2 tablespoons light brown sugar; 1 teaspoon salt

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Wheat Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in lukewarm water.
Add the melted lard or butter.
Gradually mix in the flour, beaten eggs, and salt. Beat the mixture thoroughly until smooth.

Rise and bake

Cover and let it rise in a warm place for about one hour. Stir well.
Bake on a hot griddle.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Yeast: Produces gas that makes the batter rise and gives the cakes an airy, light texture.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the batter together as the cakes set.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, helping the cakes bind and set on the griddle.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, and its milk sugars help the cakes brown.
Lard or butter: Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor, and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
Brown sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and a hint of molasses flavor.

The step that matters

Beating the batter until smooth. Thorough beating fully combines the flour, eggs and yeast so the batter rises evenly. Lumps of dry flour can leave pockets and uneven texture in the finished cakes.

“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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Wheat Griddle Cakes