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Plain Griddle Cakes

A simple batter of eggs, milk, butter, flour, baking powder, and salt cooked on a griddle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Plain Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat a griddle over medium heat.

  2. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks.

  3. Mix the yolks with milk, salt, and melted butter.

  4. Sift in the flour and beat until smooth.

  5. Fold in the beaten egg whites and baking powder.

  6. Pour the batter into a small pitcher.

  7. Lightly grease the griddle and ensure it is hot before pouring the batter.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 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. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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

Eggs
Yolks enrich the batter and whites, folded in, add lift and a light texture.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they cook.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, causing the cakes to rise and become airy.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its liquid base and tenderness.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Grease and heat the griddle before pouring the batter. A hot, lightly greased surface sets the outside of each cake quickly, so it releases cleanly and browns evenly instead of sticking or spreading.

“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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