Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Rice Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the rice flour and loaf sugar in water until thick and transparent.
Flavor with rose or orange flower water if desired.
Alternatively, boil whole rice in a small amount of water until it has a creamy consistency.
Cool the mixture to allow it to set into a jelly.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + rosetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together245 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice flour
- Starch thickens as it cooks in water, forming the body of the jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the set jelly a smooth, firm texture.
The step that matters
Boil until thick and transparent. The starch must be fully cooked so its granules swell and gelatinize. If it is undercooked, the mixture stays cloudy and runny and will not set into a firm jelly as it cools.
“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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